Don't Let Go
by minixoxmya
Summary: TxG. You never imagine the person you need the most not being able to be there for you. Rated M for safety in future chapters. R&R!
1. Basketball and Back Ache

**Don't let go**

**_"Don't Let Go"_ © minixoxmya; July 29th 2008**

**Any unauthorised copying or redistribution of this work might subject the party responsible for such unauthorized copying or redistribution to legal action by the owners of the aforementioned copyrights and trademarks.**

**DISLAIMER: I DONT OWN ANYTHING EXCEPT THE PLOT FOR THIS STORY**

**So this is a new story that I thought I would do because were in need of some really good dark but romantic stories. Hopefully I'll still be able to update when I start college but it wont be as often especially as I have two chapter stories on the go now. Anyway here is chapter one I hope you like it.**

Gabriella Montez laid on her bed staring lifelessly up at the ceiling in complete silence, twisting one of her dark chocolate curls around her fingers. She thought that breakdowns had been something of the past that had suddenly vanished after she finally sought out help to keep her feelings under control.

But clearly the ugly dark clouds were just lying in wait for the next low point in her life.

It had been five years since her beloved grandfather died. He was her best friend; her rock; the one person who she knew no matter what she did he would always be proud of her. The simple feeling of not being able to speak to him or see him ever again broke her entire self into shattered pieces.

The ones that knew and loved her quickly learnt that when Gabriella was feeling this way the best thing to do was to just leave her to get it out of her system, knowing that trying to stop it would only keep it painfully bottled inside for much longer.

There was however one person who changed all of that.

Three years after her grandfather's death, a fourteen-year-old Gabriella moved with her mother to Albuquerque, New Mexico, where she had stumbled upon a magical blue-eyed boy.

"Sweetheart, can I get you anything?" Marissa Montez asked from her daughter's bedroom door. She noticed her puffy eyes, bright red nose and tear stained cheeks and quickly recognised that now was probably one of those times where Gabriella just wanted to be alone. As she lent against the doorframe, her heart bleeding at the sight of her broken down daughter, she sighed wishing desperately there was something she could do.

"No…thank you though" Gabriella smiled over at her mother, she didn't want her to worry too much about what was going on in her mind but was thankful that she cared enough to ask.

"Ok. Just let me know if you change your mind. I'm heading out for a while but I'll be on my cell if you need me" Marissa shot Gabriella a heart warming smile before closing the door softly behind her leaving her comfortably alone.

Alone was something she had gotten very used to over the last five years. She knew if she didn't let anyone in there would be no one there to hurt her or leave her like many of her closest and treasured family members seemed to have done.

Gabriella's perfect cocoon silence abruptly was broken by a small tap on her balcony door before it opened slowly.

"Hey there, beautiful," Troy Bolton spoke casually as he shut the door behind him completely unaware of the silent and almost invisible tears streaming down Gabriella's cheeks. When she didn't reply, he stopped and looked at her for a second. Suddenly realising what was happening he quickly made his way over to her side.

"Come on, take a few deep breaths and everything will be fine. Just let it all out." Troy wasn't going to ask what was wrong, he already knew. The only way he could possibly comfort her was to just let her cry until there were no tears left.

"I miss him so much," Gabriella whispered softly as she snuggled herself into her boyfriend's protective arms. This was something completely new to Troy; whenever Gabriella was having one of these moments she would never speak, this was a great leap forwards.

"I know you do baby, I know you do." Those were the only words that Troy could force from his mouth as he watched Gabriella take deep breaths in attempt to calm her down.

The darkened room remained silent for another twenty minutes, neither moved from the comforting position they had found themselves in. Troy held Gabriella tightly in his arms and smoothed her hair lovingly placing gentle kisses on her temple every now and again.

"OK, I think I'm good" Gabriella's breakdowns always finished as quickly as they started. She sat up and wiped her cheeks of any remaining tears and took one final deep breath.

"Are you sure? Because you don't have to hold back because I'm here" Troy took hold of Gabriella's hand and squeezed it gently. She smiled at him adoringly and shook her head.

"No I'm good. Thank you so much for holding me. I really thought it had gone away but obviously not" Troy sighed and smiled sadly at his girlfriend, he hated seeing her so down and broken but he knew there was nothing he could do to make it better.

"Give it time, you've been doing so well. I remember a time where it was a daily thing, just keep positive and everything will be just fine" Gabriella smiled at Troy and nodded, before laying back down and snuggling herself back into his warm side.

"I love you" Gabriella kissed Troy's chest through his soft shirt; always felling happier once she was around him.

"I love you to precious, so much." Precious had been a name that Troy had developed for Gabriella soon after they begun dating, and it was definitely one of her favourites. It made her feel cherished, special and above all adored.

"You are coming to the big game tonight right?" Troy asked gently; suddenly remembering the schools state championship game he would be playing against West High in three hours time.

"Of course I'll be there, I wouldn't miss it for the world" Troy smiled and kissed Gabriella gently on the lips. Taking off his jacket, he gently laid it over his aching girl and pulled her in for another heartfelt kiss.

"What's with the jacket?" Gabriella asked as they pulled away from their kiss to look into one another's eyes.

"I want you to wear it tonight, I love you and I want the whole of New Mexico to know" Gabriella blushed a deep shade of crimson and smiled as Troy placed gently kisses from her forehead all the way to her lips and back again.

"I'd love to wear it" Gabriella securely placed herself back into Troy's warm arms. She was so thankful for having such an amazing boyfriend who not only care for her and cherished her, but who loved her unconditionally despite the flaws she had grown to despise over the last five years.

* * *

As Gabriella entered the loud and over-decorated stadium the first thing she noticed was just how many people had come to watch the two schools play. She shyly made her way to the entrance of the East High locker room fully aware of the many pairs of eyes that watched her as she lent against the wall opposite the door; waiting for the team to come out.

She heard the whoops and hollers of the East High Wildcats basketball team as the door was thrown open; her boyfriend doing his duty as captain and leading them out to the court. She merely smiled as her gaze caught Troy's; his smile evident that he was both surprised and happy that she had come to see him before the game.

"Hey, beautiful," Troy walked up to his waiting girlfriend and placed his arms securely around her waist.

"I just wanted to say good luck and I love you." Smiling down at Gabriella, Troy knew that no matter how many times he heard her say she loved him it would always make his heart melt when she did.

"I love you too babe" Troy kissed Gabriella's lips gently but passionately earning whistles from the rest of the team who had annoyingly decided they'd rather watch the obvious public displays of affections than make their way to the court.

"You better go." Gabriella giggled as she looked up at her boyfriend; not believing how far he and the team had come this season.

"Ok, I'll see you after the game" Troy called back to Gabriella as he ran down the corridor to catch up with the rest of the team.

Shaking her head and laughing to herself Gabriella found her way to the rest of the girls and her seat.

"What took you so long to get here? And is that Troy's jacket?" Taylor McKessie asked with wide eyes as Gabriella sat herself down comfortably in her seat.

"I was wishing Troy good luck before the game and yes it is his jacket. Now shh…! The game is starting" Gabriella emphasised her point by waving her hand distractedly in front of her friend; her full attention directed solely on the game going on in front of her.

As the end of the third quarter arrived, East High was up 10 points and Wildcat spirits were running high. As soon as the buzzer sounded Troy looked over at the stands in search of Gabriella, when he found her he smiled and winked at her as she blew him and kiss and mouthed, _I love you_.

"Hey Bolton, that girl of yours it hot. Is she good?" West High's captain, Derek Souza, was well known for his mean-streaked reputation and constant need to spice up the feud he and Troy had shared over the past year. Troy clenched his fist as he turned to the one person he truly hated and found him eyeing up his girlfriend.

"Touch her and I swear to god I'll kill you" Troy growled as he turned to face Derek with a burning look of anger in his eyes.

"You wouldn't hurt a fly, Bolton" Derek scoffed stepped closer to Troy. Gabriella watched on as the confrontation between the boys grew ever more heated. She bit her lip anxiously not understanding what was going on.

"Don't push me Derek. Everyone knows what happened last time you dared to do push me too far" Derek chuckled and moved around on his feet slightly before moving swiftly and throwing a punch at Troy. He stumbled backwards with the force of the blow; anger seeping into his veins as Derek stood there smugly and menacingly. Fire burning up inside of him, Troy finally ignored that constant pain that had situated itself in his lower back; the dull ache piercing his insides with every movement.

"What the hell is going on?" Jack Bolton walked onto court furiously after watching the whole confrontation between his son and team captain unfold with what he considered the scum of West High. Being the coach of the East High Wildcats, Jack was no stranger to confrontation between them and their rival school.

"I was just protecting Gabriella, dad", Troy threw his hands up in defence; frustrated and annoyed as Jack stood himself between the two boys.

"I saw that but you two really need to control yourselves. Derek I suggest you go over to your team before I suggest you spend the rest of the season benched and Troy, go find Gabriella and get her to say whatever it is that makes you calm down" Derek ran back to his team as quickly as his legs would take him, the thought of being benched when there was college scouts around put the fear of god into his veins.

Troy walked across court and made his way up the bleachers towards where Gabriella was sitting anxiously waiting for him to get to her. As soon as he was in arms length, she reached out and took him tightly into her arms.

"Are you ok? I saw him hit you. Baby, you have to be more careful; you don't want to get benched do you?" She asked stroking her fingers over the reddened area around Troy's eye.

"No, but he was saying things about you and I couldn't help myself. I feel like I should be protecting you from assholes like him." Gabriella sighed before placing a gentle kiss on Troy's lips.

"You don't need to do that. Go on, go and win that game for me." With one last kiss Troy ran down the steps and back onto the court.

As the final buzzer sounded the east High Wildcats celebrated a perfect victory against sworn enemies West High Knights.

"Good game, Bolton; See you around" Derek spoke snidely bumping Troy with his shoulder as he walked by.

"Whatever Souza, just stay away from my girl" Troy knew that him comment would cause the anger in Derek's body to rise but he didn't care. Being benched was no threat to him if he thought anyone was going to try and get to Gabriella.

"Leave it Troy, he's not worth it" Gabriella said firmly from behind placing a hand gently on his shoulder. He immediately relaxed and turned away from the smirking Knight.

"I couldn't help it, he just makes me so mad." Gabriella removed her hand from Troy's shoulder and placed a kiss where it had been, letting Troy know that she was there for him.

"Come on Wildcat, let's go home" The Brunette took hold of Troy's hand knowing that keeping hold of the previous subject would just being back all of the anger that had been brewing inside of him.

* * *

Later that night Troy lay in bed watching Gabriella sleep snuggled safely into his arms. This was something that he loved to do, being able to hold the girl he loved close was the best feeling he could ever imagine. Troy was so glad when his parents announced that they trusted him enough to allow his girlfriend to sleep over. He cherished knowing that he could hold her in his arms and not have to let go until the morning.

"Go to sleep, Troy," Gabriella mumbled wriggling slightly so that she could bury her head into the crook of his neck. Troy laughed; she always knew when he was spending all of his time just watching her sleeping.

"I'm sorry baby, I'll sleep now," he smiled and placed his lips gently onto hers letting them linger there for a few seconds before falling into a blissful sleep.

* * *

Troy's eyes opened and squinted slightly as his eyes adjusted to the light that was pouring through the open window. He loved down at Gabriella who was still sleeping peacefully and smiled contentedly, he loved waking up next to her.

It didn't take him long to realise that he still wasn't feeling all that great. He felt sick and the dull ache is his lower back had not faded, but had become slightly stronger. Frustratedly, he began wiggling his back around on the soft mattress, trying to soothe the pain with a more comfortable position.

"Stop moving so much" Gabriella moaned rolling herself from her position on Troy and onto her side of his large king sized bed.

"Sorry babe, but I have this sore back. I was trying to get comfortable" Gabriella snuggled herself back into Troy and placed a lingering kiss on his bare chest.

"You seem kind of warm and feverish. You sound like your getting sick" Troy shook his head. Never ever was Troy Bolton sick, he couldn't even remember the last time he had had even the slightest sniffle. He had to smile at the cute but worried look on her face as she gazed down at him, as if trying to find some sort of injury or more obvious clue as to what was wrong with him on his features.

"Not me, I'm sure I just slept on it funny. It's kind of cold in here I'm going to shut the window"

Gabriella frowned; Troy skin felt hot against hers wherever she touched him, how on earth could he be cold. She decided the best thing to do was to just brush it off, knowing that if there was something really wrong he would seek help in fear of missing any basketball.

* * *

A few hours later, Troy lay face down on his bed still wriggling to make himself comfortable. The sickly feeling that sat in the base of his stomach was becoming more intense and sitting up just made everything worse.

"Are you sure your not sick babe? You look terrible" Gabriella asked concernedly as she sat down on the edge of the bed and brushed a piece of Troy's hair out of his eyes.

"My back is just really sore" Troy whispered, figuring he couldn't admit the sickness to Gabriella but he could at least tell her about the back ache guessing she would probably think it was a sports injury.

"Let me rub it for you babe, if that will help" Troy nodded his head appreciatively. Gabriella sat herself down comfortably on Troy's toned butt and began rubbing soothing circles over the bottom of his back.

"Can you move to the sides a little? That's where it's most sore" Gabriella followed instructions and began working the skin to each side of Troy's spine.

"Is that better? I hope its not making it more sore" Troy moaned as Gabriella eased off the pressure slightly.

"No it's perfect. Keep going like before it was really helping" Gabriella replied by moving her hands back to the sides of Troy's back and rubbing gentle shapes across the skin.

It didn't take long for Troy to become so relaxed that his eyes began to droop closed. It was a strange thing for him to be so tired in the daytime, usually he outside playing sports and running around.

Gabriella noticed this and smiled to herself, she wasn't going to stop Troy from falling asleep because no matter what he said she knew that he wasn't feeling himself.

"Sleep tight" Gabriella whispered placing a loving kiss against Troy's forehead, covering him up with the blanket in case he got cold again. She knew that Troy would be unsettled if she left without saying goodbye so she picked up for paper and a pen writing him a note saying that she would be back in a few hours and that she loved him.

Once she leant the note somewhere it would be seen, she walked back over to Troy's bed and left another goodbye kiss on his forehead.

"I love you. Feel better soon"

**There's the first chapter! I worked so hard on this so I hope you all like it. Thank you so much to Holly for all the help and support so far, you're the best! Don't forget to R&R! Hopefully the next one will be soon, I want this story to be really good so the chapters might take a little longer than usual to get out. I hope that ok! **


	2. Love Taught Me To Lie

**DISCLAIMER: I DONT OWN ANYTHING EXCEPT THE PLOT FOR THIS STORY!**

**Second chapter…no note really! Enjoy!**

Gabriella looked down at her soaking wet self as she finally made it through the Bolton's front door. Anger and frustration took over her body as she stood in the pouring rain - Troy knew she was coming over and promised he would answer the door right away; yet there she was - her wet clothes sticking to her skin and body shivering slightly from the cold.

Being careful not to leave wet footprints on Lucille Bolton's brand new pistachio colored carpet, she made her way to the laundry room situated at the back of the kitchen. Pulling off her drenched outer clothes, she threw them in the drier and opened the laundry closet to find some of Troy's clothes

"Troy? Is there a reason you left me to get soaking wet in the rain instead of answering the door?" she shouted up the stairs as she made her way through the darkness to Troy's bedroom. She thought it strange that all natural light was being blocked out of the usually bright upper floor. "Troy? Are you even here?" She knocked on his door and waited a few seconds for an answer. When nothing happened, she pushed open the door and walked into his room.

"TROY BOLTON YOU—" Gabriella began shouting at the top of her voice but stopped as she looked at the sight before her eyes. Troy had fallen asleep face down on his silky white sheets. "Babe?" Gabriela asked softly; the anger she felt towards him washing away and a feeling of helplessness emerged in its place. Sitting down gently on the edge of his bed, she brushed away a piece of stray hair that was resting just over his eye slightly and placed a delicate kiss on his burning forehead.

"Gabi?" Troy muttered, still remaining in his half asleep state. Ignoring the piercing pain that shot though out his body as he moved, he turned over to face where Gabriella was sitting.

"You're still sick. You should really see a doctor. What if it's serious?" Troy reached up and pulled Gabriella into a warm reassuring hold.

"It's just the flu or something; I'll be fine! I'm playing one on one with Chad soon… a bit of exercise will make me feel better." Gabriella sighed heavily. She was fighting a devastating battle between her heart and her head. Her head was telling her to drag Troy to the doctor's office, even if it were by his ears. But her heart was telling her to trust him to make judgements for himself.

"You would never lie to me about how you were feeling, would you? Like, if you got worse you would tell me, right?" Troy felt the air around him become thicker, making it harder for him to breathe. He hated lying to the girl he loved but he knew he wouldn't come across as strong if he ran along to the doctors office every time he had a slight problem.

"I promise I would tell you." Troy found himself looking right into her deep chestnut eyes. A wave of fear passed through his body as he realised that she could always tell when he was lying or hiding something. Gabriella looked closely at him for a few minutes before smiling brightly at him and placing a soft kiss against his forehead.

"I'm glad that you would tell me. It means a lot to me that you wouldn't lie to me." Relief washed over Troy when he realised that Gabriella hadn't seen through the lie.

"I have to get dressed; I'm playing ball with Chad real soon." He heaved himself off the bed, trying desperately not to let how he was feeling influence his facial expressions.

* * *

It had been two hours since Troy had arrived at Chad Danforth's house, where their weekly one on one basketball fest took place.

"Troy, are you okay, man? Your play is completely off." Chad frowned as Troy laid himself down on the damp grass. Usually it was Troy that dominated the one on one games between Chad and himself. But today, he had barely even scored a point.

"I think I'm coming down with the flu or something. It's not big deal." Despite being able to con Gabriella into thinking he was just fine, he knew doing the same to Chad - his life long friend - would be much harder.

"Doesn't look like the flu to me," Chad's voice told Troy that he had seen right through the lie but admitting that he was becoming increasingly sick by the second just wasn't an option.

"Well it is, dude; just back off. It's not like I'm going to die or anything." Troy didn't mean to snap but the frustration that had been building inside of him over the last few hours was just screaming to be released.

"Does Gabriella know that you're sick? Her mom is a doctor, Troy; why don't you just make use of that? Its always better to be safe than sorry." Chad was aware that he was pushing his friend to his limit. He watched as Troy's usually soft facial features turned hard and cold.

"It would be wasting her time because there's nothing wrong with me." Physically unable to raise his voice, Troy spoke through his clenched teeth making Chad aware of his mounting anger.

"I'm just looking out for you, dude."

Suddenly Troy had had enough; not just of Chad but of everyone around him throwing their concern his way when he thought he had made it clear that he didn't want it. After five seconds of silence that Troy had used to process what he was going to do next, the unnecessary rage within him finally released itself. He threw the basketball violently against the wire fence and walked off without so much as a word of explanation to his bewildered friend.

* * *

Troy's speed increased every second, the longing to be alone for a while building inside of him. His pace speeded up to a run as he realised he was still two blocks away from being home.

As he reached the corner of his street, he stopped dead in his tracks; the sick feeling at the base of his stomach beginning to burn as his mouth filled with saliva. It didn't take him long to realise what was about to happen.

"Shit." Troy took a quick deep breath before the burning sensation made its way into his mouth and onto the sidewalk in front of him. "Shit, shit, shit!"

This hadn't happened before. He quickly realised that now vomiting was added to his list of symptoms, there was no way he would be able to hide it from anyone.

_'You would never lie to me about how you're feeling, would you? You would tell me if you got worse, right?'_

All Troy could hear was Gabriella's voice asking him the same questions over and over again. He knew that it was his heart screaming for him to tell her there really was something wrong but every time he thought about it his head told him no.

Troy looked down at the contents of his stomach on the sidewalk; fear beginning to seep rapidly into his veins. He no longer wanted to be alone; he wanted to have someone hold him; tell him that everything was going to be ok. He wanted Gabriella.

He groaned in frustration, his whole body shivering so much that he could barely get the key into the lock. As he finally pushed open the door, he ran straight to his room where he knew his comfortable warm bed would be waiting.

"El," Troy sighed exhaustedly into his cell phone as soon as the line connected. He had tried to say 'Ella' but his lack of strength wouldn't allow him to complete the word.

"Troy, are you okay?" The warn down tone of Troy's voice sent possible scenarios through Gabriella's mind at a thousand miles a minute. She knew most of them were overly dramatic but she couldn't help but worry.

"Yeah, just tired from basketball. Can you come over?" Troy managed to pull enough strength together to bring his tone from dying to moderately sick; enough to convince Gabriella that maybe he was okay after all.

"I'll be there in five. Run a bath… you sound exhausted. I'll join you when I get there." Troy closed his eyes and imagined the feel of Gabriella's body against his with the warm water gently surrounding them.

To him that sounded like the perfect sickness cure.

* * *

Gabriella let herself into the Bolton's house with the spare key, knowing that Troy's parents were on vacation for a few days so there was really no need for her to knock and wait for an obviously exhausted Troy to answer the door.

"Troy, baby? Are you in the bathtub?" she asked quietly through the bathroom door. Noticing that it was unlocked, she opened it and walked into the dimly lit room.

"Hey," Troy whispered, watching the beauty in front of him remove her clothes slowly. He loved how much trust they both shared for each other and how Gabriella wasn't afraid to show her whole self to him.

"How are you feeling?" she asked as she lowered herself behind Troy, letting the blissfully warm water surround her. She began to run her fingers softly over his shoulders and down his arms causing Troy to let out a gentle moan.

"Better now you're here, but still kind of flu-ish." He let his eyelids close gently and lent back against her chest, loving the feeling of her perfect sized breasts pressing against his aching back.

"I'm glad I don't have to worry anymore," she whispered as her hands moved from his arms and rested against his toned stomach. She began moving each of her fingers in delicate circles around Troy's bellybutton; the passion within him growing by the second.

"I don't think I can stay in here much longer," he moaned as her hands left his stomach and made their way down to his large penis.

"You need to relax, baby. It's probably your tension that's making you sick." She moved her hands gently up his hardening length as she felt the tension in his shoulders and knew there was only one way to get rid of it.

"Not here." Troy's words were distorted slightly; another moan leaving his mouth as Gabriella worked him smoothly with her silky fingers.

Passion took over them both as they got out of the tub, not bothering to dry off, and made their way over to Troy's king-sized bed; never once allowing mouths or hands to be removed from each other's bodies.

He felt the bed touch the back of his knees, allowing them to buckle; collapsing them both onto the bed.

"I don't think I can hold it much longer," Troy whispered, the tightness and throbbing in his groin beginning to become unbearable.

"Two more seconds," Gabriella gasped between the kisses she was placing delicately across his chest and stomach.

Realising her own frustration was rapidly building up, she lifted herself from her position opposite to Troy and straddled his waist.  
"Are you sure you're not too sick to do this?" she asked as she positioned herself above Troy's nine inch length, waiting painfully for his reply.

"I'll never be to sick to love you." She smiled at the heart-felt words that left his mouth. One of the things she loved about him the most was that he was never afraid to show how much he loved her.

Gabriella closed her eyes as she sank herself down onto him, loving the indescribable feelings that he created within her.  
Troy's features contorted as pleasure and pain took over his body - the sound of Gabriella's low moans alone made the intense burning pain in his lower back seem like it was nothing more than a tiny scratch.

"God, you feel good," Troy whispered as he began to move his hips along with hers, increasing the pace of his thrusts and pushing the pain into the back of his mind.

"Oh…god!" Gabriella threw her head back as took him in fully, reaching a level of deepness that neither had experienced before.

"I'm almost there," Troy moaned once again as Gabriella's pace increased telling him that she too was only minutes away from reaching their ultimate goal.

"Mmm… me too. Please don't stop." Hearing her moan for him to continue drove his senses crazy and left him completely out of control. He looked up at the beautiful girl before him, her eyes closed, her face wrinkled up and her medium sized breasts bouncing slightly as she moved up and down on top of him. No longer able to control his actions; he reached his hands up and took her breasts into his hands and squeezed them firmly, causing her to moan his name loudly.

Gabriella's moans increased to almost screams as she felt a enormous wave of pleasure overcome her. Her muscles tightly contracting around Troy's length that was still embedded deep inside of her.

"Oh my god," she whispered as the waves continued to emulate from her head right to the tip of her toes. Troy thrust into her three more times before he too felt overcome with pleasure and passion as he released himself inside of her.

Gabriella relaxed down so that her head was resting gently against Troy's chest. After leaving it there for only a few seconds, she looked up into his powder blue eyes, taking in all of the love that was being radiated from them.

"That was the best sex we've ever had," he whispered, a goofy grin appearing on his face as Gabriella giggled happily.

"I'll second that." Gabriella's smiled faded. Her deep, dark chocolate eyes connected with Troy's and a sense of love replaced the feelings of passion. Pulling her down gently, he connected his lips with hers in a loving, soft and gentle kiss.

"I love you," he pulled his lips away from Gabriella's just long enough to let the three most important words in his world slip easily out of his mouth.

Gabriella sighed happily, realising that neither herself nor Troy had moved from their previous position and that he was still comfortably inside of her. She rolled to her side and quickly snuggled herself back into his arms.

"I love you too." These were words that the couple did not over use; they were reserved for sacred moments that were what made the relationship so special.

As their breathing comfortably evened out from sharp shaky breaths, to deep sleepy ones, Gabriella smiled.

Maybe Troy wasn't sick after all.

**So there you have it, the end of chapter 2! I hope you all enjoyed it; I worked really hard! I am now accepting anonymous reviews so even if you are not logged in or don't have a fanfiction account you can leave a review for this story. I love all of your reviews; please take a few minutes out of your day to do it! Thank you for continuing to read! Thank you again Holly for all of the help, support and encouragement! **


	3. Ultimatum

**Thank you for all the good reviews so far, I'm glad that everyone reading it is enjoying it just as much as I love writing it. Anyway here is chapter 3!!**

Troy felt a rush of cold air brush over his naked body, forcing him to open his heavy eyelids. As he looked around the room, memories of the previous night flooded back into his mind.

He averted his eyes from the open window and down to the sleeping beauty that lay peacefully beside him. The moonlight shone through the open curtains and reflected off her caramel skin; causing her soft features to radiate delicacy.

Running the pad of his thumb gently over her closed eyes, he couldn't believe that someone as beautiful as Gabriella would want to be with him. As his thumb reached her lips, the guilt of lying to her rapidly washed over his body.

"I'm so sorry," He whispered against the silky smooth lips that he had touched just moments, hoping that the slight pressure his lips applied to hers didn't wake her from her peaceful slumber.

"God, I love you, baby." He spoke almost silently again, this time against the skin of her cheek that glowed beautifully with a light shade of tan.

As his thumb moved slowly to brush against her ears; all the lies he had told her were beginning to take their toll on his mind. With every memory of every lie that travelled through his mind, a beautiful memory of his relationship with Gabriella accompanied it.

_--_

_Troy growled angrily as he slammed the door of his truck and stomped towards the entrance of the grocery store. His mother had refused to listen to his protests as she thrust the shopping list into his hand, explaining she has no time to shop._

_As he jogged past an old lady to grab the last cart, he was stopped by strong vibration coming from the pocket of his pants._

"_What do you want, Chad? I'm pretty busy right now." Troy spoke; leaning his cell against his shoulder so he could push a quarter into the slot and free the cart from its chain._

"_Busy doing what, dude? Are you like having sex or something?" Troy sighed frustratedly - if being stuck buying vegetables on a Saturday afternoon wasn't enough, he now had to put up with Chad making noise through his cell phone._

"_No, Chad, I'm grocery shopping." Chad laughed down the line, clearly in his small mind, grocery shopping meant something completely different._

"_Nice one, dude, I totally get it. So who is she?" Troy frowned; he couldn't quite understand how Chad had made something sexual out of grocery shopping._

"_I really don't know what you're talking about, Chad, but if you're thinking I'm buying condoms…don't. You know they only sell food at the grocery store, idiot." Troy didn't bother to wait for Chad's reply; the frustration at his idiotic friend growing too much to control as each second passed._

_Entering the door, Troy let his eyes wonder around the medium sized store that consisted of ten aisles packed full with foods from every corner of the earth. His eyes drifted towards the fresh produce section and rested on a small girl with long brown curls who filling her cart with every kind of  
fruit imaginable._

_Troy watched the girl for a few minutes and chuckled as he watched her bring a huge melon up to her face and sniff the bottom to make sure it was ripe enough. It soon dawned on him that he'd been watching the unknown beauty for so long people were starting to get aggravated that he was stood still in the middle of the aisle with his cart._

_Shaking off the thought of how amazing it would feel to hold the unknown girl in his arms, he pushed on the cart and began to fill it with the items on his mother's scribbled list._

_As he approached the dairy fridge, it was as if everything moved in slow motion. The petite brunette from earlier walked passed him with confident steps, her curls bouncing as her heels connected with the floor. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed the white puddle she was about to step into. Reacting out of pure instinct, he turned around abruptly and reached out his arms, catching her just as her heel skidded across the milk puddle._

"_Are you ok?" Troy instinctively wrapped his arms tighter around the girl's waist as he felt her legs collapse from underneath her into his arms. The girl just stared up at him, shock and relief spreading rapidly through her body._

"_Thank you," she blushed madly, trying to find her balance after moving herself shyly from Troy's protective arms._

"_You're welcome. It's not everyday I have a beautiful girl fall into my arms." Troy watched as the girl began to blush a deeper shade of crimson.  
There was something about her that captivated his heart and his mind; he began to become desperate to discover her world._

"_I should probably get back to the groceries; my mom will be wondering what's taking so long." She spoke slowly and smiled shyly up at the boy who had saved her from ultimate embarrassment. Troy nodded slightly and released his grip on the tiny girl._

"_Troy." He reached out his hand and gripped hold of the hand of the unknown beauty, who was still smiling up at him._

"_Gabriella." She giggled happily as she squeezed Troy's firmly before turning and disappearing from his world as quickly as she entered._

--

Troy smiled adoringly as he remembered the memory of how his beautiful girl had literally fallen into his life.

His attention soon turned to Gabriella's eyes that remained delicately closed as she slept soundly. As his thumb moved over her soft eyelids, his memory moved to the first date he had ever taken her on. It had been the first time he'd ever become lost in the depth of her dark brown eyes.

He leant forward slightly, placing his soft lips against each of Gabriella's closed eyes.

"Troy? Are you awake?" Troy winced as he watched Gabriella's eyes flicker open to look at him sleepily. Lightly he placed a finger over her lips to silence her and lovingly kissed the space between her half open eyes.

"Go back to sleep, baby," he whispered against her delicate skin, watching as her eyes fully closed and her body became totally relaxed once again.

"That's my girl." As he carefully ran his fingers through the ebony hair of the sleeping girl, his mind quickly turned back to the memory of their first date.

_--_

_Troy took a shaky breath to calm himself before knocking on the door of the Montez household. It had turned out that Gabriella had just moved to his school from another state and he had quickly made it his mission to ask her out on a date._

"_Hello there, you must be Troy." Marissa Montez answered the door with a smile to the nervous looking young boy._

"_Is Gabriella almost ready?" he asked anxiously as the older woman stepped aside to allow him to enter the large brightly lit hallway of the house._

"_She will be down in just a minute. You have her quite excited." Marissa smiled warmly at Troy before moving on into the kitchen to allow the new couple some time alone._

_Troy looked up when he heard footsteps coming slowly down the stairs; his heart began to beat faster as the beautiful sight of Gabriella filled his eyes._

"_You look beautiful." He looked from her stiletto-clad feet all the way up to her face that was dressed only in light make up._

"_Thank you." Blushing slightly, Gabriella let herself fall comfortably into Troy's open arms._

"_I have the best date planned, I really hope you love it." Troy nuzzled his face against her head gently, taking in the scent of passion fruit that lingered on her hair._

"_Where are we going?" she asked, pulling away and smiling widely at him._

"_If I told you, I would have to kill you." Troy lent forward slowly, deciding whether kissing her would be a fantastic idea or a terrible idea. His mind was soon made up when Gabriella's lips met his half way in a sensual first kiss._

"_You just became a whole lot more beautiful." Gabriella's blush grew deeper as Troy tapped the end of her nose with his, loving the feeling of being held close._

_Troy approached the passenger side of the car, offering his hand to Gabriella and helping her out of the car._

"_The tramway?" Gabriella asked, smiling happily are she looked around at the beautiful mountains the surrounded them._

"_The tramway. Were going for dinner at the top." Troy took hold of Gabriella's hand tightly as the approached the pay station._

"_Good evening, do you have a reservation at the restaurant tonight, sir? Or is it just a casual trip?" The man in the booth smiled at the couple in front of him, watching as the girl snuggled herself tighter into the arms of the boy._

"_I have a reservation under Bolton." The man nodded and smiled as he passed two tramway tickets over to Troy and opened the barrier for them to step easily into the tramcar._

_Gabriella took a deep breath. She had never been a huge fan of heights but Troy had made an effort on this date and the view really was beautiful._

"_Gabs, are you ok?" Troy looked down at the girl who was clinging to him tightly and brushed a stray ringlet from her face._

"_I'm just a little scared that were hanging hundreds of feet in the air or just some metal wire." She lent her face against Troy's chest as he wrapped his arms tightly around her waist._

"_I'm so sorry; you're scared of heights and I bring you here. I'm such an idiot." Gabriella looked up and shook her head, placing her finger gently against Troy's lips, silencing him._

"_It's the best date I've ever been on. I'm not scared of heights, Troy; I'm just nervous. I'm really having an amazing time." Troy sighed, relieved that the date he had planned was going down very well._

"_I'm glad I'm in such a beautiful place with such a beautiful girl, enjoying myself on the best date I've ever been on." Gabriella smiled joyfully as she snuggled herself deeper into Troy's arms._

"_Best date ever," she replied simply before resting her lips gently against his._

--

Troy trailed his thumb down the valley of her breasts, moving slowly underneath them before stopping just before her nipple. He wasn't like most other guys who would just launch themselves at Gabriella's breasts.

Every time he got the privilege to see them, he made sure that he examined every millimeter in immense detail.

He allowed his lips to gently brush the trail that his fingers had previously left, but this time letting himself gently place his lips against her soft nipple; something that he had not allowed his fingers to do, in fear of pressing too hard and waking her.

More memories came flooding back into Troy's mind as his lips touched the delicately soft tissue of her chest. He remembered the first time he had ever been allowed to see her like this.

--

"_Hey, Troy, have you ever thought about…you know…sex?" Sixteen year old Gabriella asked almost awkwardly as she pulled herself away from her boyfriend slightly._

"_I'd be lying if I said I hadn't, but you know I'd never push you into anything that you weren't ready for." Gabriella nodded and let her head fall onto the cold pillow beneath her._

"_That's the thing, I'm ready."_

_Troy almost choked on his own air as Gabriella's words made their way into his ears. But he wouldn't let himself believe that he had heard correctly._

"_Are you sure? Don't feel like you have to be ready because I am. It won't change how I feel about you if we wait a bit longer."_

_As Gabriella shook her head, she placed her lips gently against Troy's forehead in reassurance that she really had thought this through._

"_I really want to… tonight." Troy dared not speak in fear that he would say something that would make her change her mind. He had waited so patiently to see all of her that the thought of getting so close and being denied frightened him._

_Troy began kissing Gabriella's neck slowly; his hands beginning to feel for the hem of her shirt._

"_Are you sure this is ok?" he asked tentatively as he rolled the hem between his fingers._

"_I'm not going to change my mind, Troy; I really want this."_

_He nodded slowly, making a note in his mind not to ask her again just in case she thought he was having second thoughts._

_As he pulled her shirt from her body and gently removed her bra, he realised the full extent of her beauty. He quickly noticed a single freckle that sat alone on her right breast; he leant his head down and pressed his lips to it causing Gabriella to giggle happily._

_It wasn't long before all remaining clothes had been shed and both were engaged in a passionate kiss. Troy stopped and sat himself comfortably on the top of Gabriella's legs._

"_What are you doing?" she asked softly, afraid that he had changed his mind or something even worse._

"_Taking in how amazingly beautiful you really are."_

_The words rolled of his tongue smoothly causing the smile on Gabriella's face to return and her eyes to become slightly glossy with tears._

"_I love you," she whispered as he began to gently work his way inside of her - beginning slowly but picking up his pace as he watched Gabriella's features relax into the rhythm._

"_I love you too," he moaned as he felt her muscles begin to contract around his enlarged penis._

"_That was beautiful." Gabriella moaned as the last few waves of pleasure moved through her body. She couldn't believe the incredible feelings that had been created as they became one._

_Troy smiled as he watched Gabriella snuggle into his side with her eyes firmly closed. As tired as he was, he didn't want to fall asleep; knowing he wanted to spend the rest of his life doing nothing but watching her sleep._

--

Hours had passed since Troy had finally closed his eyes on not just the world but also the memories of the past, which had been haunting him for the last few weeks.

Even in his sleep, the guilt of lying to Gabriella caused his physical pain to heighten, no matter how much he tried to push both feelings to the back of his mind, its just made them come back stronger.

"Troy, babe? It's time to get up. Are you feeling ok?"

He opened his eyes as he felt Gabriella's soft hand move across the dry skin of his cheek.

"Not great, but I'm playing one on one with Chad today. That will make me feel better." He opened his arms slightly to allow Gabriella to snuggle herself back into his arms.

"You're still really clammy, are you sure you're not too sick to play?" She lifted her head off his chest to look him in the eyes, but it was quickly pulled back down again by Troy as he placed a kiss against her forehead.

"I promised I would tell you if I got worse; that still stands. I'll be fine." He got out of bed slowly as he spoke, hoping that the pain he was feeling would not be shown on his already contorted facial features.

--

Sweat began to drip down Troy's face; the ball bouncing in front of his feet as he made his way towards the basket. He reached his arms up to shoot the ball as soon as it reached his hands. But as if in slow motion, his legs buckled beneath him and his arms instinctively moved to his painful sides as he fell to the floor.

Chad stood motionless for a second, letting the image of Troy collapsing to the ground in pain sink in. As soon as they did, he ran towards him and quickly fell to his knees.

"Troy, dude, what happened?" He asked, concern lacing his voice as he placed a hand on Troy's shaking shoulder.

"I'm really sick, Chad. I've not been right for weeks. I think it might be serious." Troy took deep, painful breaths and he struggled to force out his words through the intense pain that was taking over his entire body like a poison.

"Does Gabi know?" Chad couldn't offer any sympathy to his best friend until he knew the answer to his question. To the rest of the world it would seem like a pointless question, but to Chad it was the most important of all because he knew how much Gabriella hated being kept in the dark.

"No, dude, please don't tell her. I don't wanna scare her. Please," Troy begged from his position face-down on the tarmac; too afraid that if he moved the pain would only intensify even more.

Chad sighed. He hated what he was about to say but he knew that it had to be said.

"Either you tell her in three days…or I do."

**Ok so there is chapter 3; hope you all enjoyed it. Don't forget to review, even if you don't have an account, you can still review my stories.**


	4. Slow Motion

**Kleenex hopefully required for this chapter.**

Troy lay in bed lifelessly staring up at the ceiling of his dark bedroom, Chad's harsh words playing in his hesitant mind every few seconds. He tried so hard to replace them with possible ways to tell Gabriella what he had been feeling the last few months, but no matter what he came up with nothing seemed to be good enough.

He painfully glanced over at the clock that rested menacingly on his bedside table. Fear began to take over his fragile body once again as he realized that today was his final chance to tell Gabriella. If he was truthful, he didn't really know what to tell her or how to explain what was happening.

He was aware there were going to be tears and he wished that he could hold her in his arms and tell her everything was going to be ok. But he knew that he had lied to her enough.

There was no question he had to tell her today.

As his mind drifted to the future, he remembered all of the times that he and Gabriella joked about what they would call their children and where they would live. The future had never seemed so out of reach as it did that second; he began to become fearful of what might happen to Gabriella if he wasn't there to share that future with her.

--

Gabriella examined Troy's features; his dull and expressionless eyes completely fixed on the television; his usually tanned skin sickenly pale and deadly, his arms folded tightly across his chest.

Something had definitely been off in the last two days -- he was withdrawn from her and every time she delicately went to touch him her heart would wrench when he'd subconsciously flinch away.

Her mind was working hard to think of a way to get Troy to open up. Asking what was wrong hadn't worked, nor had trying to catch him off guard and forcing him to share his feelings. It was now time for drastic action.

She tentatively shuffled herself closer to him stopping every few seconds; so that the obviousness of her actions would not become clear, yet still allowing her to get close enough to carry out her plan.

Deciding that she was finally close enough, she moved her head forwards and gently pressed her lips to the sensitive spot that rested just below Troy's jaw line.

Troy began to breathe more deeply as he felt her supple lips make their slow decent down his jawbone before stopping at the base of his chin. He looked down nervously at her and she smiling lovingly up at him from her new position on the floor between his legs.

"You've been so tense the last few days." Her voice slightly husky as she allowed passion surround her completely. Troy looked deep into Gabriella's eyes. He knew that this was never going to end well but whenever she touched him he couldn't help but crave more.

All he could do was nod solemnly as Gabriella began to move her hands slowly up his legs - massaging his skin and placing delicate kisses along the path of her playful fingers. As she reach the hem of his basketball shorts, she moved her hands underneath tracing smooth lines with her fingertips.

Nervousness began travel erratically around Troy's body as Gabriella's mischievous hands moved closer to his length, sweat began to run off his forehead knowing that as soon as she reached his most sensitive area all of the pleasure he was feeling would come to an abrupt stop.

A sensual smile appeared on Gabriella's face as she got up and sat herself down in Troy's warm lap, slowly leaning forward and placing a tantalizing kiss on his lips. Her hands moved down his sides with the same massaging action she had previously applied to his legs. Her right hand pushed its way through the waistband of his basketball shorts and rubbed his lower abdomen before moving underneath his boxers.

Suddenly Gabriella froze.

The expression on her face became icy and cold as her hand quickly snapped from underneath his shorts. So many fearful thoughts were running wildly through her mind and she could barely understand what each one meant.

Her mind was haphazardly spinning out of control--a million fears racing through her at a great rate of knots. Her heart was pounding; her arms and legs shaking...every fear she had no idea consumed her conscience surfaced and paralyzed her.

"What's going on?"

Troy looked down at the floor timidly, desperate to escape Gabriella's frightening stare. He shrugged his shoulders pathetically as sweat began to drip teasingly down the back of his neck.

Silence filled the house once again, the air quickly became thick making it hard for Gabriella to take in her angry breaths. Her stare hardened once again as Troy's silence finally became too much to bear.

"You've been acting so weird." She took a breath, as she fearfully got up from his lap "Please don't treat me like I'm stupid. If you've got something you want to tell me, please just say it" Gabriella took a pace back, allowing herself to pace slightly and turn away from him.

Feeling a small bout of courage build up inside of him to reveal everything to his pleading girlfriend, Troy recoiled back in shock as she turned back to face him looking angrier and more hurt than ever.

She just looked longingly at him, as if trying to find the answers in his broken features. His eyes avoided her, his head hung low in embarrassment and rejection. Everything about him that she knew, cherished and loved became a distant and beautiful memory as she choked back a sob and suddenly didn't recognize the being sitting dejectedly in front of her.

She didn't want to comprehend it, but she knew it.

"You don't want me anymore" Her tone was hard, final and gut wrenching to hear. Sharp tears raked down her porcelain as her fear and anger once again consumed her whole body. She took deep and agonizing breaths, hoping that controlling her tears would make him blind to her hurt and pain and reveal her strengthening barrier.

Troy choked on the air around him as Gabriella's words sunk into his mind. He knew what he had heard but he so desperately didn't want to believe that that was the way she was thinking. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't find the words to reassure her that he had never needed her more than he did now.

Gabriella let out another strangled sob as she watched Troy hesitate.

That was all her mind needed.

She knew there was really something devastating to her that he was hiding and suddenly she wasn't sure whether she wanted to know.

She realized she would never be able to release her anguish without knowing the truth.

"It's so obvious now that you're keeping something to me. I didn't think we had secrets" Gabriella's voice calmed down to an almost soft tone but yet sarcastic tone the tears poured down her cheeks more than before.

"Did I do something wrong? Something to upset you? There's someone else isn't there? Please don't try and deny it." The hysteria and despair was building in her voice again as she sat down in a chair and rested her head in her hands.

"No, baby. No, you've got it all wrong. I promise you." Troy looked at the girl shattered sitting in the chair--just wishing he could run across the room and hold her tightly in his arms and promise everything was ok again. He watched her get up, her eyes remaining closed but he could see the heartbreak leaking out underneath her closed eyelids.

Eventually she opened her eyes and scrunched up her fists with anger.

"Jerk! I can't believe that you don't have the guts to just admit it! I cant believe I've had to wait this long to find out. You've made me feel like such an idiot. I can't even look at you right now!" Gabriella's whole body tightened as anger took over her body, mind and soul - her words ending up in painful screams rather than angry shouts.

She reached behind her neck and clawed the necklace that Troy had given her two years previous--never once had it been taken off…until today.

She looked at it one last time before throwing it forcefully at Troy and storming out of the room and slamming the living room door behind her shattered frame.

In Troy's mind everything had happened too quickly. One minute she was kissing him and the next she was screaming and crying at him. He hadn't had a chance to fully take in what had happened until he watched her run from the room and heard the hard wooden door slam behind her.

He looked down to the necklace that hung across his leg--he opened the pendent carefully and examined the two pictures that lay inside. The first one was of the kissing; a picture that had been taken by Chad at one of his many garden parties, and the second was a more recent picture of Troy smiling down at Gabriella as she slept soundly on the couch.

He suddenly realized if he didn't make this right he could end up losing her forever.

Without thinking about anything other than running to Gabriella; holding her tightly in his arms and whispering that everything was gonna be ok, he got up off the couch and started making his way towards the door.

Suddenly the world around him seemed to change--black dots appeared in his line of vision and a wave of light-headedness took over his body. Before he knew it his legs gave way beneath him and he was laying a jagged mess on the floor. He could hear strange muffled noises in his ears and leaving him no time to cry out for help his whole world turned to black.

--

Gabriella sat at the breakfast bar with her head resting in her hands, desperately trying to calm herself down before going back in and trying again to find out what it was exactly that was being kept from her.

Her mind was working on overdrive again; never for a second allowing her time to rest or sort though the millions of possible scenarios that she had created. Her chain of thought, however, was broken suddenly--not by her mind-- but by a strange noise coming from the living room.

Forgetting the argument that had happened only minutes before she threw open the door, completely unprepared for what she was about to see.

Gabriella's swollen orbs glazed over as she choked on her breath and rushed to Troy's side.

"Troy? Are you ok? Can you hear me? Troy please speak to me" she took hold of his shoulders and shook him violently from side to side, hoping that he was just sleeping and that he would open his and everything would be ok again.

"Troy I'm so sorry. I love you so much, open your eyes please" her words became more frantic as panic took over her body causing her to take in deep breaths and shake violently. She reached her hands to Troy's neck, hoping desperately that she would be able to find a pulse.

She moved her fingers 10s of times desperately trying and trying to gain reassurance that he was still alive. Finally her fingers found what they were looking for, and even though it was barely there it was reassurance enough that maybe, just maybe he would be ok.

Suddenly she realized she would have to call for help, she remembered all the times in elementary school that the had practiced calling 911 and how they were always taught to be calm and explain what happened and where she was. But all of those lessons went out of the window as she frantically grabbed for her cell phone and dialed the numbers.

"_911, what's your emergency_?" the calm voice of a female operator filled her ears, she continued shaking Troy as she tried desperately to gather her thoughts well enough to speak.

"Please you have to help me. My boyfriend Troy, he's collapsed and he won't wake up. Please you have to send someone right now" as soon as she finished her sentence another wave of hysterics set in causing her head to fall to Troy's chest as she sob even louder.

"_I need you to tell me where you are, I cant send anyone to help Troy unless you tell me exactly where you are_" Gabriella took a deep breath before reciting Troy's address to the woman and begging her once again for help.

"_Someone is on their way, can you tell me if Troy is breathing_?" Gabriella cursed herself for forgetting all along about his breathing. She silenced her sobs as she moved her ear closer to his nose.

"He's breathing but he's really pale and cold, I don't know what to do. I cant lose him please someone help me" Gabriella begged desperately to no one in particular as she looked down at Troy and watching as the color drained from his lips.

"_I need you to stay calm, someone will be there very soon. I want you to stay on the line until help arrives ok? Let me know if anything changes_" Gabriella wasn't really listening, she knew that the woman was only trying to help her but she was only concerned with Troy.

"He looks like he's dying, please he can't die, please" Gabriella cried harder and harder as the harsh reality of her words began to sink in, Troy could die thinking that she didn't want to be with him anymore.

Everything after that seemed to happen in slow motion, 2 paramedics made their way into the living room, putting Troy in the back of an ambulance before pulling in a hysterical Gabriella behind them and quickly making their way towards the hospital.

Before they knew it, the ER doors were being pushed open and the paramedics ran down the corridor pushing Troy, soon joined by many doctors and nurses.

--

Marissa Montez couldn't believe her eyes as she noticed the face of the young boy who had been swiftly moved to her trauma room. For her this wasn't just another patient, the boy laid before her meant the world to Gabriella and she knew that losing him would be just one tragedy too many. Suddenly her thoughts moved to Gabriella, did she know that Troy was here? Was outside in a hysterical state not knowing what was happened? Neither really matter at that moment in time; Marissa knew that now was the time to be the doctor and not the concerned mother.

--

The next 2 hours passed like a blur. Gabriella had been sitting outside the trauma room door ever since they had disappeared into the brightly lit room and no matter how many nurses tried to take her somewhere else she had refused to leave.

She leapt to her feet as she saw her mother emerge from the room looking exhausted. She was quietly glad that her mother had been the doctor to help Troy; at least she knew how much his life really meant.

"Oh Mija" Marissa walked over to her still hysterical daughter, held her tightly in her arms and rocked her back and forth gently.

"He's not gone is he? Please mom you can't let him die" Gabriella's sobbing choked her words as she took in huge deep breaths, trying desperately to get enough air.

"He's not gone sweetheart, but he's very sick. I want you to be prepared" any relief that she had felt on hearing that he was still alive was soon washed away when she realized that 'being prepared' meant they didn't think he would make it through the night.

"You have to help him mom, I can't go through this again. There must be something that you can do" her grip on her mother tightened, trying so hard to cling onto any hope that was given out.

"Were trying our best baby girl I promise you. You can go in and see him. Talk to him, even though he not awake he will be able to hear you" Marissa placed a soft kiss on her daughter's head before releasing her grip slightly and guiding Gabriella towards the door.

As she entered the room, the door snapped quickly shut behind her. She looked over at Troy; his usually naturally tanned skin was a ghostly shade of gray, his upper body visible and covered in plastic tubes and wires. The room seemed plain, the walls were a dull shade of cream and the only source of noise was the incessant beeping coming from the various monitors. She wondered what stories the room would have to tell, how many people had died in this very spot and how many peoples lives had been saved. She stepped closer to his side, almost frightened that if she touched him something terrible would happen. She had never had to be strong for both of them before, that was always something Troy had done so naturally, but she had no choice she had to hold it together.

All she could think was that all of this was her fault maybe if she hadn't shouted at him he wouldn't be here fighting for his life. She frowned, perhaps she shouldn't be here at all, when he woke up it was unlikely that he would want to see her after everything that she had said to him.

Suddenly she remembered that if she spoke to him he would be able to here her so maybe if she said sorry everything would be forgiven.

"Troy, baby you have to wake up. I need you so much" sobs once again began taking over her body. She reached forward taking one of his cold, clammy hands in her and holding it tightly to her chest, tracing delicate circles on his skin with her thumb.

"I'm so sorry, this is all my fault. I love you so much and I know that there's no one else, I don't even know why I said it. I was just so angry I wasn't thinking before I said anything. You have to believe me baby, please. You have to wake up so that I can tell you how much I love you. I can't lose you; you're my whole world. I really need you to hold on, you can't let go…you just can't." her pleading ramblings stopped, allowing her to keep a deep breath. She didn't know what else to do, what else she could say that would make everything right.

She sat herself down a small plastic chair that had been placed at the side of the room. Taking hold of Troy's hand once again, she laced his fingers with hers and rested her head gently down on the mattress feeling comforted by the closeness of her head to his body.

"Gabriella sweetheart, Troy's results have come back. There is good news and bad news" Gabriella looked up at Marissa as she walked into the room, she began running her thumb over Troy's knuckles as she awaited the results of the tests.

"Shoot, I don't care which one is first, please mom just tell me" her grip on his hand tightened, wishing hard that he would squeeze hers back to give her the comfort that she desperately needed.

"Good first then, it's not cancer and at the moment is not immediately life threatening. The bad news, we think Troy has had a serious kidney infection and his kidneys are not struggling to recover. We're not sure if he had kidney failure or if this is just a very serious infection. We're giving him IV antibiotics. He should be waking up soon" Gabriella's mind began to think about what had been going on over the last few months; the back pain; the nausea, everything suddenly seemed to make sense.

"But he's not going to die right? He's going to be ok?" Gabriella released Troy's hand from hers and walked towards her mother, wrapping her arms around her tightly.

"Not today Mija, but he's got a long road ahead of him" Gabriella smiled slightly, she didn't care how long or even how bumpy the road ahead was, all she cared about was that she wasn't going to lose him.

"I should call Jack and Lucy, they should be here. I completely forgot about calling them, god I'm so selfish. This is all my stupid fault" Now that the fear inside of her had passed, it made way for anger and frustration.

"None of this is your fault, you did exactly the right thing by getting him here quickly" Marissa comforted her agitated daughter, rubbing her back reassuringly.

"But if I hadn't of got angry over something so fucking stupid, we wouldn't even be here. I can't believe I actually doubted how much he loves me. Stupid, stupid, stupid" Gabriella paced around the room causing Marissa to sigh worriedly, it was a sight that had become all too familiar to her over the last few years.

"It would have just been a matter of time, this would have happened whether you got angry or not. You can't let yourself get into this again Gabriella, why don't we go and get some food and then I'll take you home" Gabriella stopped pacing and looked at her mother, she knew that all the signs were there but she didn't have the strength to do anything about them.

"I'm not hungry. I'm not leaving Troy until he wakes up. I don't want him to wake up alone…he might be scared. I never want him to be scared" Marissa knew that no matter how hard she tried, if her daughter want to stay then she would. Gabriella had always been headstrong; it had been something that Marissa had really admired in her, until the death of her grandfather. That was the time that everything changed, she knew that Gabriella still hadn't recovered and she hoped with her whole self that this would not push her over the edge.

"Well, I'm going to head home now. You know where I am if you want to come home" Gabriella walked back over to Troy, taking his hand once again and nodding slowly in reply to Marissa's question.

"I love you" Gabriella kissed Troy's dry lips, wishing and hoping that he had heard everything she had said over the last few crazy hours.

She settled herself in the chair next to his bed again; Marissa had said that he should wake up soon and she wasn't going to sleep until he woke up and everything was right between them again.

It was going to be a very long night.

**I hope everyone enjoyed reading this chapter; I worked really hard so please, please review! Thank you so much for reading! **


	5. Only One I See

**I'm so sorry for the long wait that there's been since the last chapter but I've been crazy busy starting college/university and then I got sick. I hope none of you are too mad at me for making you wait this long. Enjoy!**

Gabriella sat herself down on a hard blue plastic chair positioned just outside of the access-controlled doors that lead to the ICU.

After returning from calling Jack and Lucy, she had been informed that Troy would be moved up to the ICU and she was welcome to come up and wait while they got him settled in his room.

"Gabriella? What's happening?" Her mind was pulled from the wreckage of its thoughts and back into the real world as she heard a soft female voice speak from next to her. She slowly looked up, tears still clouding her vision, and realized that Mr. and Mrs. Bolton had arrived.

"He's really, really sick. I'm so sorry, this whole situation is all my fault."

Lucille Bolton looked closely at the broken form of her son's girlfriend and slowly wrapped her arms tightly around the shaking girl.

"Gabriella, sweetheart, we all know this isn't your fault. Why don't you tell us what the doctors have said?"

Gabriella nodded slightly as she took a deep breath and gave herself a minute to compose her thoughts and feelings enough to share the information onto Troy's parents.

"We were at your house... something happened and I got really mad at him. I screamed and I shouted at him and he must have gotten up to try and make me see reason or something. The next thing I know, I hear this big crash from the living room so I went into see what it was and he was just laid there on the floor. I called 911 and we ended up here." Gabriella took a deep breath before sharing what happened once they arrived.

"My mom checked him over for a couple of hours and did all these tests. She says it's not cancer but he's got really bad kidneys. She's not sure if he's had complete kidney failure or if it's a really horrible infection; he's on antibiotics now."

The whole story quickly flowed from Gabriella's mouth. She became terrified that the Bolton's really would see that it was her fault and wouldn't want her to be near Troy.

"Sweetheart, you listen to me. None of this is your fault - we know that, Troy knows that and all of the doctors know that. It's time that you knew that too." Jack Bolton looked down at the tiny girl that had become like his daughter. Seeing her so broken destroyed him, just like it would any usual father.

"I pretty much told him I hated him. I said I couldn't even look at him. I'm so scared that when he wakes up he won't want to see me or be with me..." Lucille tightened her grasp on the broken girl, rocking her back and forth in a soft, comforting motion.

The eerie silence that had filled the air was quickly disturbed by the sound of the automatic doors to the ICU opening.

"Gabriella? You can see Troy now, sweetheart."

Gabriella looked up at the familiar nurse that was looking down at her sympathetically -- she was a good friend of her mother's.

"Mari, these are Troy's parents. They should probably see Troy before I do."

Mari smiled sadly at the adult couple who were both cradling Gabriella in their arms.

"He's waking up, so it would be best if someone is there when he does so he doesn't feel panicked."

Gabriella looked up at Troy's parents. She knew they would be perfectly willing to let her go in first but she was not yet ready to face the fact that Troy might not want her there.

"Go," she spoke quietly before wriggling out of the Bolton's arms, walking towards the window and staring out at the lights that shone from downtown Albuquerque.

--

Jack and Lucille Bolton pushed gently on the door of their son's hospital room, taking a few seconds to prepare themselves for what could be waiting on the other side.

They were, however, comforted by the sight that met their eyes -- the typical image of an ICU patient imbedded in their minds by the media had been clouding their thoughts but seeing Troy sat up slightly in bed with his eyes beginning to flutter open reassured them that things would most likely be ok.

"Troy, honey, its mom. Can you open your eyes for me?" Lucille took Troy's hands in hers and squeezed them gently.

"Ella..." Troy's eyes remained closed as he forced a single word out of his mouth. Lucille smiled slightly; she decided it was best not to mention that Gabriella was here until she was certain that Troy wanted to see her.

"Open your eyes, son; its very important that you can do that for us." This time it was Jack's voice that penetrated into Troy's ears. Neither were voices that he wanted to hear.

"El, where are you? Ella, please..." Panic and fear laced Troy's words as he struggled against the various tubes that were holding him down. Jack and Lucille exchanged a worried look as they both pulled themselves closer to try and calm Troy's fear.

"Troy, calm down, sweetheart. You need to open your eyes and take deep breath." Troy began to move his limbs more violently; he was so desperate to hear her voice.

"El, I'm so sorry please forgive me. I need you please..."

Lucille turned to jack and motioned towards the door.

Gabriella needed to be here.

--

"Gabriella, you have to come in. He's drifting in and out of consciousness but all he's saying is your name."

Her ears perked up. This was a sign to her that perhaps Troy still wanted to be with her after everything she had done.

She followed Jack closely as he led the way down the sterile corridor towards the entrance to Troy's room.

As she entered, her eyes found a thrashing Troy with Lucille trying desperately to stop his wild movements in fear that he would damage himself further. As she moved closer, Lucille's efforts to try and keep Troy calm ceased and she moved away towards the door, taking Jack with her.

She knew that the young couple deserved some time alone together.

"Ella, Ella, El..." Troy's voice strained as his desperate breaths got longer and quicker. Her trance was broken by Troy's pleading voice, she forgot everything that had happened over the last twenty-four hours and rushed to his side.

"Hey, shh. I'm right here..." She took hold of his clammy hands and held them close to her warm chest. She watched intently as his breathing began to slow down and his eyes started to flutter open again.

"Ella, you're here. I'm so sorry. I love you so much; you have to believe me..." his voice began to crack, but she knew what he was saying and feeling was still being influenced by painkillers. She couldn't help but feel like these were his true thoughts.

"Shh, it's ok. Everything's ok. I love you too, so much. I promise that everything is going to be ok." Tears began to fill her eyes and she watched Troy relax slightly. She lent over slowly and placed a soft kiss on his dry lips before taking his hand in hers once more.

"Where am I?" He whispered slowly, letting his dull tired eyes wonder slowly around the cream colored room.

"You're in hospital. You collapsed at home. God, you scared me so much. I don't know what I would have done without you." She rested her head against his chest gently; desperate to hear his heartbeat to prove to her mind that what she was seeing was real.

"I was sure that I'd lost you. I know that now is probably not the best time to talk about this, but I'm terrified that I'll die and you'll still be thinking all of those things."

Gabriella looked up and stared as best she could into his eyes; the large tears pooling in her eyes making it difficult for the picture to be clear.

"You're not going to die. You can't. You have to be strong for me, because one day we're going to get married and have babies together, how can we do that if your not here, huh? I need you." She squeezed her eyes tightly shut and took in a few deep breaths to prevent herself from breaking down in a heap of sobs against Troy's fragile body.

"Don't cry. I promise I'm not going to die. Picturing you walking towards me on our wedding day is enough to keep anyway alive." Troy paused as he took in Gabriella's features. "God, you're the most beautiful thing I've ever seen." A new wave of tears filled Gabriella's eyes and more heartbreaking sobs filled her lungs.

"I love you," she whispered quietly as she felt Troy wrap his arms tightly around her waist and pull her down onto the bed next to him.

--

Jack and Lucille looked in through the window at their son and his girlfriend, delicately laid together on his hospital bed. One of his hands was wrapped around her protectively, the other was smoothing soft strokes through her hair. It baffled them that even in such a sick state, he could be so protective and caring towards her.

"Good morning." A soft voice sounded behind the couple causing them to turn around. They smiled at the middle aged Mexican woman who had become more than familiar to them over the last three years.

"Good morning, Marissa; thank you so much for everything you did for Troy." Marissa shook her head before placing her hands softly on their shoulders.

"I did it as much for Gabriella as I did for Troy. I do have good news though. I collected his lab results on the way in. He has a very serious kidney infection... given a few more days and we could have had complete renal failure on our hands. He will need to remain here because renal failure is still a very strong concern that I have, but with a long course of IV antibiotics he should recover well." Marissa glanced through the glass window at her daughter clutching tightly to Troy as they both slept.

"So he's staying here then?" Jack ask slowly, he had hoped that Troy would be able to return home. He knew that while they were keeping him in hospital things were definitely not good.

"I'm afraid so; I'm still very concerned about his kidney function. If a problem does arise I want to be able to deal with it immediately. The worst case scenario would be renal failure... bringing him here in an ambulance just wouldn't be quick enough."

Lucille Bolton shook slightly at the thought of her son being so desperately ill; even with all the good news so far, a big black cloud still remained hanging over Troy's health.

"Right, yes. Ok." Lucille's one-worded responses give Marissa the idea that she probably didn't want to contemplate and speculate the things that could go wrong.

"I really have to ask you, as it is still a possibility, would either of you be willing to be tissue tested now and be prepared to donate a kidney to Troy should he need one? I'm not saying he will, but it's very important to have organs available as soon as possible."

Jack and Lucille looked closely at each other, silently communicating how they felt about the given situation.

"Of course, without a doubt."

Marissa nodded slowly, writing down the information she had been given on the form that she held tightly in her hands.

"Test me too." A small voice disrupted the adults from their thoughts as they looked around the spotted a tired looking Gabriella in the doorway.

"Don't be silly, Gabriella, this is a very serious option." Marissa looked sternly at her daughter. She admired the determination and love in her voice but she wasn't sure that she understood the full extend of her request.

"I'm not stupid, mom, if it came to it that Troy needed something to save his life, I would do everything I could to give it to him. Test me too." She repeated her words, this time with more passion and a slight angry tone lacing her words.

"Very well." Marissa's pen touched the paper again, as she wrote down Gabriella's details on the tissue match test request form, before walking away further into the ICU.

"You don't need to do that, Gabriella." Mrs. Bolton moved towards her, placing a gently hand against her still tear stained cheek.

"No, I really do. If he died and I could have done something to save him, I would never forgive myself." Lucille pulled Gabriella into a tight hug; allowing for the first time, tears to slowly leak from her eyes.

--

Gabriella jolted up, tiny beads of sweat running off her skin. This was a situation that had been unknown to her since she had been with Troy.

Tears began to mix with the sweat on her cheeks. She was so sure that she had gotten over this.

"Gabriella, honey, are you awake? It's almost time for school," Marissa's gentle voice sounded through the thin wooden door between Gabriella's room and the rest of the world.

"I'm not going," she called back as she flicked the light switch allowing her room to once again fall into complete darkness.

Outside the room, Marissa sighed. She too had believed that Gabriella had passed through this, but it seemed that Troy getting sick had brought everything back.

Her hand gently turned the handle of the door, relieved that it wasn't locked.

"Why don't we talk about this, sweetheart? I'm sure you have some questions." Marissa sat down gently on her daughter's bed, pulling back the comforter to reveal her face.

"There's nothing to talk about. Please just leave me alone." She snatched the soft material of her comforter from her mother, cocooning herself once again.

"Troy is very sick, honey, and I know how much he means to you. Maybe you should speak to Dr Littonton again -- she helped you a lot after grandpa died, remember?" Uncontrollable rage ran through Gabriella's veins. How dare her mother suggest that she had forgotten?

"I don't need therapy, mom. I know that Troy will be ok. Which part of leave me alone did you not understand?" Gabriella knew there was no reason to be angry but she just felt so out of control of her thoughts and feelings.

"Alright then, I'll leave you be. You know where to find me if you need me." Marissa spoke slowly as she kissed her daughter's forehead. She had been in this situation many times before and knew that Gabriella was slowly slipping back into herself as she had done before Troy.

"No! Wait, please, don't go!" Gabriella clung to her mother tightly, stopping her from leaving the room. Marissa sighed. At least Gabriella was letting her in.

"I'm not going anywhere if you don't want me to, Angel. Do you want to talk about it now?" She smoothed Gabriella's hair gently as she sat herself down on the bed next to her.

"I don't know what I'm going to do without him. I know he's going to get better but while he's in hospital I can't run to him when I need him. He's been there for me, mom, the whole time. I don't know if you know but when I got nightmares, I'd call him and he'd com over, we'd get all snuggled up together and everything would be ok again."

Tears poured rapidly down Gabriella's cheeks, beginning to feel more and more lost in her thoughts and feelings.

"He's a good boy for you, Gabriella. Abuelito would be so happy you found someone who loves you so much. You know that Troy will still be there for you even in hospital; he would hate to think you were suffering without telling him." Marissa wrapped her arms tighter around Gabriella's shoulders, pulling her gently into her lap and cradling her like a small child.

"I know that, but I want him to get better quickly. I feel like if I dump all my fears on him it will make him stressed and he wont get better as quick. I want you to be honest with me. mom, is he really going to be ok?" Gabriella looked deeply into her mother's eyes, searching desperately to find a truth that would put her mind to rest.

"If he carries on the way he is, I see no reason why he should be fine. Only time will tell."

That was not the truth that Gabriella had been searching for. She desperately needed to hear '_yes Gabriella, Troy will be as right as rain in a few days'_, but she knew those words would be a long time coming.

--

The cool breeze brushed against Gabriella's skin as she stood on her balcony staring up at the moon.

She had tried to get to sleep numerous times but knowing that Troy was all alone in the hospital created horrible images in her mind.

Swiftly, she pulled on Troy's white and red 'Wildcats' hoodie over the top of her shirt and threw on a cozy pair of track pants. She knew that if she was caught doing what she was about to do she would be in deep shit, but her desperation to be close to Troy outweighed her fear of getting in trouble.

Carefully she lent over her balcony, gripping tightly to a thick overhanging branch of the tree that was situated just off her balcony.

Letting out a relieved sigh as her feet touched the floor, she began to run quickly in the direction of the hospital. She knew that she could have driven but the sound of her car in the garage would have most definitely woken her mother.

"Come on, Gabriella, toughen up, what's the worst that could happen, it's just a tiny little walk to the hospital…in the dark…through downtown..." Fearing that if she stopped she would be pounced on by a rabid dog or stalked by a drug addicted tramp, she kept walking and walking until she saw the huge brightly lit building that was Albuquerque Memorial Hospital.

Visiting hours were most definitely over but she didn't care. She was desperate to be close to Troy and if that meant breaking a few stupid rules then that's what she would do.

She walked through the automatic doors into the brightly lit corridor. She walked quietly towards the huge board mounted on the wall that gave directions to visitors as to where they would need to go. Her eyes scanned the list until she found the floor number and arrow for the ICU.

The hospital was quite an eerie place to be at night, the corridors completely empty and the only noise coming from the shuffling of her feet against the linoleum floor.

As she spotted the entrance to the ICU, she also spotted two young nurses and an older doctor sat behind the desk. She racked her brain for ways to distract them long enough to get to Troy.

She soon spotted a supplies cart that had been left just outside the automatic doors leading to the center of the ICU where Troy's room was situated. Carefully, as not to make too much noise, she tip toed towards the cart and pushed it over hard causing a very loud crash.

She watched as the nurses and doctor ran towards the large crash. As soon as they had busied themselves picking everything up off the floor she made a bolt for the sill open doors.

She was finally in.

"Troy, baby. Wake up," Gabriella whispered as she moved closer to Troy's sleeping body. He looked so pale yet she knew that as soon as she snuggled up beside him all of her lost warmth would quickly return.

"Ella? What are you doing here? It's like 2am. How did you get here?" Troy moved over cautiously in his large bed, careful not to disturb the two lines that were placed in his right arm.

"I couldn't sleep without you. I missed you so much, so I climbed over my balcony and walked here."

Troy chuckled as best he could; he couldn't believe that his Gabriella, the same girl who was terrified of being out in the dark, walked all the way there to be with him.

"You must be exhausted and cold, come on get in." Gabriella looked unsure at first; she was terrified that if she held him to hard that he would just break in her arms.

"Come on, baby, you're not gonna hurt me. All my lines are on the right side so you can snuggle into my left, I made them promise I would have nothing on my left side. Its all yours." She giggled happily as she gently eased herself down onto his bed. She was so relieved that he was looking better than he had forty-eight hours ago.

"I love you." She whispered softly against Troy's gown clad chest. It felt so good to be close to him, feeling his warmth seeping through her skin and knowing that she would wake up next to him.

"I love you too, beautiful."

**So there we have that chapter done and dusted, hope you all enjoyed it!! Don't forget to review!!**


	6. Suspended In Time

**First of all I'd like to say I am so very sorry that I haven't updated in like a century but I seemed to lose my interest for this story and I completely ran out of ideas and places that I could take it to, but I've suddenly come up with an idea so please don't kill me for not updating in so long and dont forget to review!**

---

If I lay here, if I just lay here

Would you lie with me and just forget the world

Forget what we're told, before we get too old

Show me a garden that bursting into life

~Snow Patrol – Chasing Cars~

---

Things weren't going to plan.

Her mother had told her that everything was going to be ok, but nothing was ok.

In fact things were beyond terrible.

Troy's body began to become resistant to the antibiotics he was being treated with, leaving the infection to spread to his blood and various vital organs before anybody could even blink.

Time began to crawl along, each day that Troy spent sedated in the intensive care unit seemed to pass like a year.

The constant beeping of the monitors that surrounded Troy's lifeless body were the only things that allowed Gabriella to believe that he was alive.

"You should go home and get some rest Gabriella." A small dark haired nurse spoke softly as she placed a hand on Gabriella's shoulder lightly.

The intensive care unit's nursing and medical staff had become somewhat of a family to Gabriella over the last two months, allowing her to sleep in the room on a pull out bed next to Troy even when other relatives had been asked to leave.

They watched with admiration as she went about her day, not leaving the room for more than a few minutes at a time.

"I'd rather not, I wonna be here in case anything changes. Anyway, we're gonna start reading black beauty today, he loved it when he was a kid." Gabriella smiled up at Vivian, the dark haired nurse, before turning her attention back to Troy and taking his cold hand in hers tightly.

Vivian had spent hours watching Gabriella through the large glass window as she sat faithfully at Troy's side, other family members filtered in and out during the day but Gabriella almost never moved from the spot next to Troy.

Both Lucille and Jack had gone back to work, knowing that they would be informed of any changes. It almost upset Gabriella to know that they had reduced their visits to once a day; she knew that Troy would want them to be here but she tried her best to understand things from their point of view.

"Nothing will change in the time it takes you to go home, take a shower and have a nap. He's not going to wake up until we stop the sedation, you know that, and he's doing really well. His latest bloods showed he's out of renal failure after all the fluids we've been giving him and the new antibiotics are slowly starting to work. He wouldn't want you to run yourself into the ground." Gabriella looked up at Troy's pale face as she took in Vivian's words, she was so proud of Troy for doing so well, all she wished for now was that he come back to her.

Once it was discovered that Troy's infection had dramatically spread the options were put to them by several specialist doctors. They had been advised that the best way for Troy to get better was to have him sedated and on a ventilator in the ICU with stronger antibiotics running. Everyone involved knew that Troy might never wake up from the sedation; in the last moments before Troy closed his eyes Gabriella had prepared herself for knowing that may have been the very last time he smiled at her.

"I still need to be here, just in case. Do you know when you might start reducing his sedation, seeing as he's doing so well?" The desperate question was one that had been on everybody's lips for a week now, Gabriella hoped with everything she had that it would be soon now.

She closed her eyes as remembered the last few moments that Troy had been awake, he had smiled at her, told her he loved her and that everything was going to be ok. Tears had filled her eyes as she kissed Troy's dry lips, whispering back that she loved him too and wishing him sweet dreams.

"We're planning on reducing it a little now, once it's fully reduced and he's awake we can start weaning him from the ventilator, we don't know how long that will take. It could be days, it could be weeks, that's all down to Troy." Vivian went about her tasks quietly after that, checking Troy's vital signs and fitting a new syringe into the pump that was keeping Troy asleep.

Gabriella sighed heavily as she watched Vivian leave the room, leaving her to stew in what had just been explained to her, she refused to let her mind be optimistic, knowing that that was the only way to avoid disappointment.

"Morning handsome, your mom dropped off your black beauty book yesterday, I thought maybe we would start reading it today, what do you think?" Gabriella had been told to talk to him as if he was still conscious; it had felt strange to begin with but as time passed it seemed like normal behavior.

She had started reading to him the day after he was been sedated, she found herself unsure of what to say to him aside from begging him to get better. She hoped that reading him the books he used to love as a child would make him feel comfortable and safe. The fear of the unknown racked her with fear, did you dream while you were unconscious, what would happen if it was a bad dream? You couldn't wake up from it. The thought of Troy being scared hurt her deep down inside.

She had to do something to settle her worries.

"Chapter one, my early home. The first place that I can remember well, was a large pleasant meadow, with a pond of clear water in it. Some shady trees grew over it and water lilies grew at the deep end." Gabriella continued to read the book to Troy, chapter after chapter, glancing up every now and again to check whether his features had changed or not.

Hours passed without anybody realizing, day turned to night and sleep began to build in the corner of Gabriella's eyes.

She had read to him all day, stopping only to eat and use the bathroom, she hoped that her efforts had been worth it.

The door creaked open slowly, revealing the calm face of Lucille Bolton. Gabriella smiled as the older lady approached the bed.

"Hello sweetheart, has it been a good day?" She asked as she perched herself on the end of Gabriella's pull out bed, watching as the young girl gripped onto her sons hand tighter than ever.

Gabriella wasn't sure how to answer, it had been both a good and bad day, these days there was a very thin line between good and bad that was often blurred so much it was difficult to tell the emotions that were being felt.

"A good day I guess, they reduced his sedation. They hope that he will be awake enough soon to start taking him off the ventilator, and his kidneys have improved. I've been reading to him all day, hoping that he can hear me. I really want him to know that I'm here." Lucille smiled warmly at his son's girlfriend; carefully she placed a warm hand on Gabriella's shoulder and sighed a sigh of mixed emotions.

The duration of Troy's hospital stay, and the severity of his condition, was beginning to put a strain on everybody involved. No matter how many people told her otherwise, Gabriella was still blaming herself for all that had happened to Troy. She had played over a million 'what ifs' in her mind but couldn't find a justification to disprove any of them.

She had completely detached herself from the world outside of Troy's room; her only connection with the real world was the school work that Jack Bolton had been bringing her to complete.

Each day passed like a year, with everyday that passed Gabriella hoped with everything she had that the next day would be better.

---

Thea Alves had been working as a registered nurse in the Intensive Care Unit of University of New Mexico Medical Center for eight years.

It was until only recently that she believed she had seen everything.

She had seen millions of relatives come and go through those eight years, some leaving with their loved one and others without.

This had never fazed her.

That was until she met Gabriella Montez.

She had never been in a long term relationship, and could never understand when she'd heard people describing feeling so strongly for one person. She had never believed that you could love someone so much that you never wanted to leave their side.

But the first time she had walked into meet her new patient, Troy Bolton, she had been overwhelmed by what she saw before her.

The young girl, who she now knew to be Gabriella, was sat on a chair with her head resting against the bed and Troy's hand gripped firmly in hers and her eyes clamped shut.

She had exited the room quietly and quickly made her way to the desk, curious to know whether the girl was a relative or a friend.

It was then that she finally understood the meaning of loving someone so much that you just cannot leave their side.

It had broken her heart to see such a young couple being torn apart by illness and caused her pain not knowing whether or not they would every get the chance to be a normal couple again.

That day Thea made a promise to herself, she promised to do everything that she possibly could to keep that boy alive.

She smiled at the thought; it felt like it had been so long since she had first been influenced by the lives of Troy and Gabriella. Unknowingly they had taught her so much about life and how to take each day as it comes, without dwelling on what tomorrow might have in store.

She found herself staring through the glass into Troy's room, watching as Gabriella tentatively shaved his face around the numerous tubes and wires.

It was something she had watched Gabriella do every other morning without fail. They had laughed together once as Gabriella explained how much Troy hated not getting the chance to shave.

"Nurse, is it too much to ask for your attention for just five minutes?" A strong mail voice broke the trance that she had seemingly slipped into, she glanced up at the voice and spotting a stern doctor dressed in a smart dark grey suit.

Thea had never felt intimidated by doctors in suits; they often strolled onto the unit making outrageous demands of the already stretched nurses who were too afraid to say no. Thea however, had always been stubborn.

"Good morning Doctor Coleman, what can I do for you?" Thea replied sweetly, allowing the words to flow between her gritted teeth, although she wouldn't let herself get pushed around, she knew better than to be unpleasant.

Doctor Coleman was an older man, he had been a doctor for twenty five years and he did nothing but make sure everybody knew it. He had been chief physician for the intensive care unit for five years, and not once during those years had he once bothered to learn a nurse's name.

"I am crossing off Troy Boltons sedation completely, I'm planning for him to be awake this evening so that we can begin spontaneous breathing trials. I am happy that he is not in danger of either renal and respiratory failure and his infection markers have dropped significantly. I trust you will let the family know." With that Doctor Coleman placed a file in front of Thea and left.

Thea was more than used to his swift visits and had learnt to quickly take in what he had to say, knowing that he would never answer a bleep to remind someone of a previous conversation.

As she looked down at the file, a bright smile spread across her face.

Maybe today would finally be a good day.

---

Gabriella whipped her head around as she heard the door opening. It was too early for Troy's parents or her mom and she knew their friends would still be at school, so she wasn't shocked when she saw Thea emerge from behind the door.

"I'm not interrupting anything am I? There are just a few things I wanted to discuss with you." Thea had never liked just barging into patient's rooms; even in the ICU you never know what patient's might be getting up to behind the closed blind and door.

Gabriella shook her head before returning her gaze onto Troy, hoping to notice the first second that anything changed.

"No not at all, is everything alright? There isn't anything wrong is there?" Gabriella had always been an over thinker, she had always jumped to the worst possible scenario and worried about everything and anything.

Thea had become accustomed to Gabriella fearful anxiousness; she understood that in difficult times she used it as a way of protecting herself and preparing herself for horrible situations.

It made Thea smile inside that finally she would be handing Gabriella good news, news that wouldn't make her worry about the future or the man she loved or the future of herself.

It made Thea smile inside that finally she would be handing Gabriella good news, news that wouldn't make her worry about the future or the man she loved or the future of herself.

"I've just spoken to Doctor Coleman and he would like Troy taken off the sedation, I'll do that now. He would also like us to start weaning Troy from the ventilator, I'll be adjusting it so that Troy controls how many times he breaths a minute and for how long. We'll do that for 30 minutes at a time and once we are happy we will be able take the tube out all together. How does that sound?" Gabriella's breath caught in her throat as she listened to Thea's words, it took her a few moments to comprehend what was happening but as the realization hit her, soft tears began to run down her smooth cheeks.

She had hoped for a good day, but she had never imagined it would be this good.

"That sounds amazing! Are you sure he's really ready?" Gabriella whipped the tears off her cheeks as the flow quickened; the thought of having her Troy back was more than overwhelming.

She had tried to imagine how she would feel when Troy finally woke up, she knew she would feel emotional but she never predicted feeling such strong feeling sweeping through her body.

"He's more than ready, his organ functions have improved massively and his blood shows the infection is almost gone. He's doing so well, you should be really proud of him." Thea smiled at Gabriella for a final time before quietly sneaking off to finish off the notes she had been writing up.

Gabriella looked down at Troy's still pale face and smiled widely through her tears, she knew it wouldn't be long until they could finally begin on the road back to normality.

---

It had been seven hours since Troy's sedation had been completely removed and everything was going great. The nurses had been coming in once an hour to adjust the ventilator and Troy was spontaneously breathing almost constantly.

"You're doing so well Troy, you'll be awake real soon and everything will be ok." Gabriella whispered against Troy's warm cheek, ecstatic in the knowledge that soon she would be able to hear his comforting voice again.

Ever since Troy's admission Gabriella's hand had almost constantly remained wrapped around Troy's, it had never once bothered her that Troy hadn't been able to squeeze her hand or brush his thumb against her soft skin.

So when she felt a tight squeeze on her hand her eyes widened in shock.

"Troy? Troy can you hear me? Baby, Can you open your eyes?" Gabriella watching Troy intently, searching for any change in his facial expressions that could be a sign that he was finally waking up.

Troy's normally still features were beginning to move slowly, his nose scrunched slowly and his eyes fluttered between open and closed.

Gabriella was torn between leaving his side to call for a doctor or pulling the emergency cord that hung above Troy's bed. The thought of Troy waking up alone frightened her, she feared he would think she had left him.

Reaching up she pulled the red emergency cord.

Nurses and doctors came rushing into Troy's room, observing Gabriella leaning right over Troy and whispering words of encouragement.

"Gabriella? What's happening?" Thea asked quickly, fearing that the good news she had given earlier on in the day may now be tainted with disaster.

Gabriella stood up straight, her eyes bright and tears of happiness running down her cheeks.

"He's waking up!" A large sob racked through her body as she watched the team rush towards Troy to make sure that all was well.

No matter how many times you are told not to get attached to patients, it is often hard not to. The dedicated team of nurses and doctors who had been caring for Troy had become very much attached to Gabriella and had enjoyed observing the obvious love that she had for Troy. They had all made it their mission to make sure that Troy pulled through the mess that he was in.

"He's doing really well Gabriella; we're going to try and extubate now before he wakes up fully and tries to pull out the tube." Thea spoke excitedly to Gabriella as the team began to work on settling Troy and making him comfortable.

Gabriella stepped slowly out of the room, allowing the team space to work and allowing herself space to comprehend all that had happened in the last five minutes.

She pulled out her cell phone and pushed speed dial 3, desperate to share the overwhelming news with two very important people.

"_Lucille Bolton._" The woman on the other end of the phone answered professionally; as she did with any telephone call she received.

Gabriella smiled at the comforting voice, she knew that the words she was about to say would bring joy to not only herself but to a whole family of loving relatives.

"Lucy, he's waking up." She kept her words short, she had wanted to explain all about what had happened and how well Troy was doing but her words had failed her.

"_Oh Gabriella, that's so fantastic. I don't know what to say. We'll give you some time alone with him and come as soon as we have both finished work. Thank you for everything that you've done for him, you really are a very special girl_," Gabriella's tears began to flow faster as she listened to Lucille's words.

She didn't feel that she had done anything for Troy that she wouldn't do for anyone that she loved. The relationship that she had build with Troy was one that she couldn't imagine ever letting go, she had done everything to make sure she could make sure there were never any 'what ifs' in her mind.

"We'll see you later." Gabriella listened as Lucille quickly replied, hanging up as soon as the woman had finished speaking.

The blinds had been closed in Troy's room, blocking out the outside world from the happenings behind the closed door. Even though she had left the room by her own accord, she felt that she couldn't reenter the room without first being told that it was ok to do so.

She sat down quietly on the hard blue plastic chair in the corridor, imaging what was happening to Troy and how life would be completely different in just a few short minutes.

She picked up her cell phone for a second time. This time not to make a call, but to inform their loyal friends that everything was going to be ok.

'_He's finally waking up, they've taken him off the ventilator and he's going to be ok.' _

Quickly she selected recipients from her address book and watched intently as the message sent to fifteen people who would be constantly checking for news. If she had missed anybody out she was sure that news would spread like wildfire through the halls of East High.

Her trance was broken by a happy voice coming from the doorway of Troy's room.

"We're all finished Gabriella, you can come in now. He's awake and doing really well. He can't have anything to eat just yet but you can give him some water if he's thirsty." Thea smiled widely as Gabriella rushed over hugged her, it had been an emotional journey for all involved but it seemed things were definitely on the way up.

Words failed Gabriella once again, all she could think of doing was rushing into Troy's room and telling how much she had missed, how proud she was of him and wrapping her arms tightly around him.

"Thank you so much," she forced our as she rushed past Thea and into the room that had been home for what seemed like forever.

---

Gabriella walked quietly into Troy's room; she wondered what she would see when she opened her eyes, would all the tubes and monitors be gone or would some still remain.

Her desperation to finally see the real Troy again forced her to open her eyes.

As she opened them she saw him laying on his back, his breathing perfectly regular and his eyes tight shut. She wasn't sure whether she should wake him or not, but as she slowly walked to towards his bed the beautiful eyes of Troy Bolton finally opened themselves.

"Hey beautiful," he rasped quietly, his voice almost silent as he regained the ability to use his vocal chords.

She couldn't believe what she was finally seeing; she had waited and wondered for so long about how things would be when he finally woke up, in all of the scenarios she had played out in her mind none of them had consisted of him greeting her so normally.

Tears began to rush down her face again as a sob rushed through her body; she was completely overwhelmed by the emotions that were working their way through her body. Goose pimples formed on her skin as the sound of his voice travelled into her ears and the hairs on the back of her neck stood up as she watched him smile as best he could.

"I don't even know what to say," she choked out as she reached for Troy's hand and brought it up to her cheek. Troy's thumb began to brush along her cheek bone, catching the tears as they fell and preventing them from leaving salty tracks down her face.

"You don't need to say anything. I love you so much, just knowing that you're here is enough," Troy coughed violently as he struggled to finish his sentence, the dryness and soreness of his throat getting the better of him.

Gabriella pressed her index finger against his lips softly, before reaching over and offering him a sip of the water that had been left on the table.

"Try not to talk, just take sips and you'll feel better soon. You can't eat anything yet, I guess that because you haven't swallowed anything in what feels like forever, but I'm sure pretty soon that feeding tube will be out. Who knows, I might even go and buy you McDonalds in celebration." Troy smiled up at his girlfriend, losing weeks of your life was a strange sensation that he couldn't get his head around, somehow he knew that she had been here but he couldn't think quite how he knew that.

Gabriella hadn't changed much in his eyes; sure it had only been a matter of a couple weeks since he had last cast his eyes on her beauty but for some reason it felt like an eternity.

The only difference that Troy could observe was the darkness of her usually bright eyes.

"You're tired," he whispered, he had known her long enough to spot when she had exhausted herself. Her eyes had always been the window to her soul and often darkened when she was overtired and stressed.

She smiled down at Troy, placing a kiss against his pale forehead before shaking her head slowly.

"I'm just glad that you're ok," they both smiled at her words, enjoying the feeling of love that was shared between them and the feeling of finally being able to be close to the other.

Gabriella knew that the road ahead would be long and bumpy, but relief washed over her to know…at least they were finally on it.

**So there is it, the long awaited chapter that has taken over a year to come…I am so insanely sorry for making you wait for this long and I'm totally thankful for anyone that is still reading. Please review to let me know what you think.**

**I have a plan for this story now that's solid in my mind and I have definitely regained my inspiration for it. Looking out for more chapters coming soon! **

**I hope there are still a few people reading and I would really appreciate hearing what you think. **

**---**


	7. Two Steps Forward

**Right well the plan was for more regular updates but as I am sure you are aware life has overtaken me recently and I'm in the middle of writing my thesis…yeiks! So hopefully once we get to July and I've graduated college with my degree (omg) updates will be much more regular for you guys!**

**Thank you so much to all of you who have stuck by me all this time. It really means a lot that you have carried on reading through me being a terrible updater! Don't forget to hit that button and drop me a review…always appreciated. **

~TG~

_~Patience is a particular requirement. Without it you can destroy in a hour what it might take weeks to repair. ~ _Charlie W. Shedd

~TG~

Spring had turned to summer and Troy was still sat frustrated in his hospital room. He wanted nothing more than to be outside with his friends, swimming and lounging in the hot Albuquerque sun.

But he was stuck, stuck in the middle of an intense few months designed to help him regain his strength and abilities in order to leave hospital.

Thankfully for Troy and Gabriella they had taken their ACT and SAT exams prior to Troy's sudden illness and they had compiled enough credit with Advanced Placement classes that missing March to June hadn't affected their chances of graduating.

Graduation had been a beautiful day, the sun was shining and a cool breeze whistled through the trees. Troy's doctors had allowed him out of day release, giving Gabriella strict instructions to not allow him out of his wheelchair at any point.

Together they had collected their diplomas, watching their parents proudly smiling from the audience before moving back down to their seats.

Both Troy and Gabriella had decided to defer their entrance to college. They had both been accepted to their first choice schools, just a few short miles away from each other in California, but neither could imagine being there without the other.

After lengthy discussion, and most often argument with Troy, Gabriella had sent a polite letter to Stanford explaining her circumstances and informing them that she would be taking up her place next year.

Needless to say, that had had no problems honoring her decision.

"What are you looking so grumpy about?" Gabriella asked Troy and she entered his room that morning, her baby blue summer dress sitting just above her knees and her hair hanging loosely down her back.

There was no doubt that she brightened his day, whether the sun was shining or not seeing his girl walk through the door brought him sunshine.

"I have physio in an hour," Troy grumbled, he had been having intense physiotherapy to get his muscle strength back since being taken off the ventilator four weeks previously.

It was painful; there was no denying that, his muscles had become accustomed to lying in bed motionless and when he attempted to walk more than a few steps burning pain seared through his legs.

But he knew he had to go on, as much as he hated it and as much as he wished his physiotherapist would just leave him alone, he knew that to have a normal life again it was something he just had to do.

"Come on Troy, you only have a week left. You can walk on your own now, that's huge! Without physio you wouldn't be doing that! Before long you'll be playing ball with Chad and the guys just like before," Troy smiled at Gabriella optimism. She was right though, he could finally walk without using an aide and the thought of sleeping in his own bed for the first time in four months was more than enough motivation to do well in physio.

It felt strange to Troy that the world had continued on as normal without him. His parents had gone back to work months before, in fact they had just set off on a three week cruise around the Caribbean.

It was only Gabriella whose world had stopped when his had. She had done her remaining school work from his room, spent weeks at a time away from her own bed to sleep with him to make sure that he was ok, and she had given up her chance to attend college in the fall to stay with him.

He couldn't describe how appreciative he was to have her, how much he loved that she was with him every step of the way, but he couldn't help but feel guilty.

He felt like he was holding her back, like maybe one day she would resent him for stopping her from going straight to college and fulfilling her dreams.

"You've gone from looking grumpy to looking perplexed, what's going on in your head Troy?" Gabriella asked amused that his expressions had changed so quickly.

He had always been expressive; it was something that Gabriella loved about him. Usually his expressions reflected his happy persona, and sometimes even reflected how he was feeling in moments of intense passion.

"You're not going to hate me for this are you?" Gabriella frowned at Troy's question, what on earth would she ever hate him for?

There wasn't a likely scenario in her mind that had such an outcome, no matter how hard she tried to think of one she just couldn't imagine herself ever feeling hate towards Troy.

Sure, she knew there would be anger and frustration at some point in their future but never ever hate.

"What are you talking about Troy? Hate you for what?" she asked, wondering what had made Troy think such of such a question.

Troy sighed, he hated that it was so difficult to express himself in words. He hated that for some reason his usual open communication with Gabriella had been halted.

He wasn't sure why, but he found himself wanting to hide from her. He knew however, that he couldn't do that. Hiding from her was what got him here in the first place.

"Later on down the road; when you're stuck at home looking after me and watching all of your friends getting on at college, are you going to wish that you had gone this fall? Because if you are, I think you should go and do that because I never want to have the possibility of you resenting me because I held you back." Gabriella couldn't believe what she was hearing, she couldn't believe that after everything that had talked about he was thinking these thoughts.

She had spent hours convincing him that this was what she wanted to do; hours convincing him that renting a little apartment together in Albuquerque, which would be close to family, so that she could care for him all of the time, was a really fantastic idea.

She had no doubts in her mind that this was what she wanted. College would still be there for her in a years' time, as it would be for him, leaving him behind in Albuquerque to fend for himself had never been an option.

"Never, never ever in my life have I wanted something more than I want this Troy. I want to be the one to take care of you; the one to help you take a bath when you need help, the one to massage your legs when they ache, I want to be there to dress up in a hot nurse's outfit and see your already amazing smile get bigger and bigger. I don't want to be in California without you, I want to be right here in Albuquerque." Troy was touched by her speech, it wasn't often that Gabriella spilled her feelings to him in such a way and because of this he knew she meant it.

He held her had tightly in his, pulling her down to his side and wrapping his arms tightly around her. It had become a novelty to them to be able to cuddle without worrying about disturbing wires; it had only been recently that Troy had had all of his lines removed for good.

Their moment was disturbed by a knock on the door. After waiting a few seconds for protect, a tall tanned man entered the room.

"Hey there Troy, ready for physio?" The man asked nodding his head politely at Gabriella as he made his way across the room.

Troy had been offered the choice of moving to a rehabilitation facility just outside of Albuquerque following his discharge from the ICU. However, when Marissa Montez had heard about the possible move, she had insisted he remain at the hospital so she could personally oversee his care.

He had been glad of this, he hadn't wanted to move. He was comfortable with the staff, and they were comfortable with him. He had worried that the staff somewhere new wouldn't warm to Gabriella as much as the staff at the hospital had.

He needed her, the thought of having nurses and doctors telling her she could only be there for three hours a day pained him. He knew that making exceptions to the rules made it difficult for them; but they had quickly learnt that without Gabriella, the difficult times were ten times harder.

"You know I'm never ready, but Gabriella said I don't have a choice," the physiotherapist smiled; he hadn't had much to do with Gabriella over the time he had been working with Troy, she had always watched his sessions from the sidelines and disappeared back into his room once the session was completed.

He had to admit, that in all his time as a physiotherapist he had never met a girlfriend as supportive as Gabriella.

George had qualified as a physiotherapist three years previously in his home town in Toronto, Canada. He had made the move to Albuquerque, New Mexico after being offered a job that he simply couldn't turn down.

He loved his job, but for some reason he really loved working with Troy. Despite his cheeky words of disinterest, he knew that Troy was willing to do anything to fully recover.

"Gabriella is a wise woman; you should listen to her more often!" Gabriella giggled at George's comments, she often teased Troy about listening to her and it had tickled her that someone had agreed with her.

"Let's just get this over with," Troy grumbled, hauling himself from the bed and taking slow painful steps along with George and followed dutifully by Gabriella.

It was the vision that kept Troy going, the vision of the future he was going to share with Gabriella.

It was the only thing that could possibly make painful physiotherapy worth it.

~TG~

Troy had waited months for this day to come.

It was finally the day that he would be allowed out of the boringly decorated claustrophobic hospital room and out into the real world.

He had made excellent progress in the last four physiotherapy sessions and with a little assistance from Gabriella but none from George, he had finally managed to climb the stairs and prove he was more than ready to go home.

He knew that it wasn't over yet though.

Despite being allowed home, he would have to return to the hospital four times a week for physiotherapy and would need to attend clinic with Gabriella's mother once a week to ensure that he was still doing well physically.

There was still a long road ahead of him, but it relieved him to know that it finally looked like a much more enjoyable journey that it previously had.

"Well Troy, it will be quiet here without you!" Marissa Montez spoke sweetly as she walked into Troy's room for the final time.

It had been quite an experience for her; she could still remember the horrible feelings that struck her as she watched a half dead Troy being wheeled into her trauma room. She remembered more than vividly the frantic rambles of her daughter as she begged her mother to save the man that she loved.

She was pleased how everything had turned out. She knew that most of it had been down to Troy; he could have gone either way no matter what treatment they had thrown at him, but he had chosen to get better and come back to live his life as he should with Gabriella by his side.

"It will be like I was never here once I'm gone," Troy retorted cheekily, packing his clothes into several bags in preparation for his long awaited departure from hospital.

Troy was more than ready to go home; he had mixed feelings about returning to a completely different house than the one he had left, but the idea of moving in with Gabriella overtook his feelings of uncertainty.

Gabriella had been living in their new apartment for three weeks now. She had considered waiting until he was home to move in but she wanted it to feel homely and lived in for Troy's return.

She had decorated in a way that she knew Troy would like, the whole apartment had been filled with relaxed mellow tones and furnished with tastefully with comfortable yet classy furniture that made the apartment look much more luxurious than it really way.

Troy and Gabriella had Marissa to thank for their apartment. She had watched the couple in the months that Troy was in hospital and quickly realized how important it would be to Troy's recovery for Gabriella to be around as much as possible. For this reason, she had paid the rent on a small downtown apartment for six months and had allowed Gabriella to decorate and furnish the new home with the family credit card.

They were more than appreciative; Gabriella had worried about how she and Troy would manage once he had been discharged. They had become used to having the other almost twenty four hours a day that it seemed strange that at some point they would be unable to be there for each other constantly.

"It's so good to see you going home Troy, you have progressed so well! I have filled in all of your discharge paperwork, made you a clinic appointment with me for next week and have informed the nurses that you will be leaving as soon as Gabriella arrives. I'm going to have Doctor Mikanos come in and speak to your briefly before you leave but apart from that, you're free to go Troy." Marissa smiled as she tucked a couple of documents into Troy's bags along with a large bag of medications he would need to keep taking for a little while longer.

It frustrated Troy that he had to keep taking his medications, but he understood how sick he had been and how important it was to ensure that his body recovered in the best way possible. Marissa had reassured him that it would be unlikely that his period of illness would affect his ability to play basketball but that he had to take it easy for a few weeks.

Troy's time in hospital had changed him.

He had always dreamed of being an NBA star but as he lay in his hospital bed, unsure whether he would ever survive and return to full health, he realized that all he wanted was to be surrounded by his family.

He wanted to wake up every morning next to Gabriella, and chuckle as their children pile onto their bed because it's Saturday morning and no one has to get up. He wanted to be at the birth of their babies, watch them grow up and be there for every milestone no matter how small.

As he sat lost in his thoughts with nothing else to do he realized, there was no way he could have all of those things and live a life in the NBA.

He couldn't wait to begin the life he was now more excited for than ever.

"Why does Doctor Mikanos need to speak to me?" Troy asked, curious to know why Marissa had instructed an intern to speak with him when she was here herself right now.

Marissa cringed slightly, she knew that Troy would ask the question but she had that he wouldn't.

"You'll see. Make sure you come and find me before you leave with Gabriella, I'd like to say goodbye to you both. How about you both come over for dinner when your all settled in? Maybe next week?" Marissa asked politely, knowing that Troy loved her cooking enough to agree without even having to think about it.

Troy smiled and nodded as he watched her leave the room. He was still puzzled as to why Marissa had asked Doctor Mikanos to speak with him, he scanned his mind for possibilities but came up with nothing.

Fortunately, he didn't have to wait long to find out.

"Troy, my man! Great to see you going home!" Doctor Alexander Mikanos spoke happily as he entered the room.

He had laughed when Marissa had approached him with her problem. He was one of her most trusted interns and it amused him that she would select him to discuss something so personal with Troy, when she could do it herself and probably do it better. It wasn't until he had realized who Marissa's daughter was that he fully understood why it was impossible for her to have this conversation with Troy.

"What did you need to talk to me about?" Troy asked, his curiosity getting the better of him as he once again came up blank of what could possibly need to be discussed.

Alexander sat down on the bed, trying to find the best way to approach the discussion he was about to have so as not to offend Troy or overstep the boundaries.

"I'm just going to come right out and say it Troy. Some of the medication you are taking can cause erectile dysfunction while you are taking them. If you find that this happens to you, there are people you can talk to and way in which you can…well…fix the problem." A grin grew on Troy's face, not at the discussion he was currently in, but at the realization of why Marissa wasn't able to have this discussion with him herself.

It was no secret to her that Troy and Gabriella were having sex, she had caught the couple in enough compromising positions to know that it would be foolish to assume their relationship didn't have a sexual side.

"Thanks for letting me know man, I'll bear it in mind and if I have any problems I'll be sure to call you. But um…I've been taking these meds for a while now and recently I've not had any problems in that department." Troy thought he should be honest, ensuring the man before him that while his advice was appreciated he didn't think it would be needed.

He and Gabriella had never engaged in anything that could be considered sexual while he was in hospital, the mere thought of it seemed completely wrong and totally inappropriate.

That being said, Troy had always found his girlfriend more than attractive. It had been difficult to control his urges as she pranced around his room in revealing pajamas or as she got dressed in his en-suite bathroom following a shower.

He couldn't count of two hands the number of freezing showers he had taken. There were few things he was more excited about than finally getting to be intimate with Gabriella again.

"Too much information dude," Alexander replied chuckling, as he handed Troy several pamphlets about the problems he may face with his medications.

"What are you sharing with the poor guy now Troy," Gabriella's sweet voice filled the room as she entered, amused at the scene she had found before her but unsure what Troy had been revealing to the young doctor.

She too had waited for this day; it was a day she wasn't sure would ever come, and now that it had she had so much happiness and excitement within her she didn't really know what to do with it all.

The apartment was more than ready for Troy's homecoming, it had been cleaned top to toe and she had prepared Troy's favorite beef enchiladas ready to reheat when they arrived.

"Hey Beautiful," Troy greeted Gabriella as she made her way over to him; leaning down and kissing her lips gently, not caring that Alexander was still in the room.

It had been such a long time since Troy had been away from the hospital he had almost forgotten what it was like to have a normal life. He couldn't wait to start his life with Gabriella, knowing he would be living with her full time in their very own apartment had been what had kept him going through the hard times.

"Are you ready to go?" Gabriella asked excitedly, as she lifted Troy's heavy bags off the bed and loaded them onto a wheelchair she had collected from the entrance.

Troy was more than ready.

He couldn't wait to sleep in his own bed, snuggled next to Gabriella and knowing that when he woke up she would still be there snuggled into his side.

"You know it!" Troy chuckled as he and Gabriella made their way out of his room, walking towards the nurses' station so that they could say goodbye to the people that had become a family to them.

Troy looked back at his room, as much as he was glad to see the back of it, it felt almost sad that he would be leaving a place where he had found such love, peace and enlightenment.

The room, the white boring disinfected room, had become a sanctuary for him. A hiding place away from all of the horror, drama and sadness that lingered in the corridors outside.

All of the staff rushed over to wish Troy farewell, they had brought him a huge card that read 'Good luck in your new home' and everybody had signed it with messages of goodwill. Troy had to laugh; he was the one that was supposed to be buying them a card and not the other way around.

Everybody shared hugs, kisses and good luck messages before Gabriella led Troy down the long corridor and into the elevator.

It had been the first time for months that he had been surrounded by complete silence…and he couldn't get enough.

"I've missed you Babe," Troy spoke softly, pulling Gabriella into his side and burying his head into her deep sweet smelling curls.

Gabriella raised her eyebrows, she had seen Troy every day since he had been admitted to hospital, why on earth would he have missed her?

"Missed me? I've been here every day…" Gabriella remarked, hoping Troy would shed some light on his mysterious remark.

Troy thought for a moment, he hadn't really considered his words before he spoke he had just spoken. Although he had seen Gabriella every day, it became evident to him that the little things he had missed out on were what made him miss her the most.

"I miss all of you, not just you being here physically. I miss the way you scrunch up your nose when you dream, the little routines you have for everything and the way that you snuggle into me when your cold. I've missed you because I haven't been able to have all of you, I'm so happy that I finally can." Troy's admission surprised Gabriella, she had missed him being at home but Troy had kept his yearning for her so guarded she hadn't even realized.

The elevator doors opened, breaking the beautiful moment between the couple and forcing it to be put on hold as the exited the large doors of the hospital.

A fresh breeze blew across their skin, cooling the sizzling summer air that surrounded them.

"I've missed you too! Come on handsome, let's get you home!" Gabriella smiled widely as she opened up the trunk of her car and loaded in Troy's bags.

This moment caused Troy to chuckle; so much had changed since he had been in hospital.

School had come to an end forever.

Gabriella had finally got her license, saved up with a little help from her mom, and purchased a very shiny brand new Audi.

His life had been moved from his childhood home and into the apartment he was now sharing with the woman he intended to spend the rest of his life with.

So much had changed.

Troy Bolton had always hated change…but as he took in a deep breath of the warm summer air, he couldn't help but be thankful that he had finally let go enough to embrace it.

**So there you have it! Another chapter done and dusted, there will only be a couple more after this one I think. I'm sat at the airport now finishing off this chapter and I'm hoping that you like it! Once again, I am so sorry for the delay in getting this chapter out to you and I'm so thankful for everyone who has stuck with me!**


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